Ultrashort Pulse Laser Manufacturing for Sustainable Transport (UltraMach)

交通运输是英国温室气体排放的最大贡献者，占总排放量的24%。在交通工具中全面使用先进的复合材料，如陶瓷基复合材料（CMC），对于英国政府的交通脱碳计划至关重要，该计划旨在到2050年实现净零排放。然而，目前在大规模生产复合部件方面存在技术挑战，特别是缺乏适当的材料加工技术，这限制了在更广泛的运输部门采用复合部件的速度。大多数已建立的材料加工系统，包括电火花加工、机械刀具加工和长脉冲激光加工，都是针对金属和合金开发的，由于复合材料的低电导率和各向异性的热学和力学性能，它们与复合材料不相容。UltraMach项目旨在开发并商业化利用一种新型皮秒激光计算机数控加工系统，该系统将实现复合部件的工业规模经济材料加工，并支持运输部门所需的转型步伐。2018年获得诺贝尔奖的超短脉冲（USP）激光技术（脉冲持续时间在几皮秒（ps）到飞秒（fs）之间）几乎可以烧蚀任何具有可忽略热缺陷的材料。虽然这种非凡的能力已经在学术演示和一些小众应用中得到了证明，但材料去除率低以及边壁锥度（在厚材料加工过程中）的问题限制了它们与大规模生产环境的相关性。该项目将利用皮秒激光技术的最新学术进展，开发一个完全集成的8轴（5轴定位工作台和3轴振镜扫描仪）加工系统，用于航空发动机和发电燃气轮机部件的经济钻削、切割和加工。项目一期将重点关注两个方面。设计和开发了用于燃气轮机/航空发动机部件高展弦比复杂形状特征加工的全集成8轴激光系统（可将激光束定向到特定角度以控制边壁锥度），并进行了广泛深入的研究，建立了皮秒级复合材料激光经济加工的可行性。该项目与最终用户和英国高价值制造（HVM）弹射器中心密切合作，旨在解决复合材料部件制造机床的市场缺口，并加速航空航天和发电燃气轮机中复合材料的开发，以实现净零碳经济。

Transport is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the UK accounting for 24% of the total emission. Full-fledged use of advanced composite materials, such as ceramic matrix composites (CMC), in transportation vehicles, is vital for the UK Government's Transport Decarbonisation Plan, which aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050\. However, currently, there are technical challenges associated with the mass-production of composite components, specifically the lack of appropriate material processing technologies, which is limiting their pace of adoption in wider transport sectors. Most of the established material processing systems, including, electrical discharge machining, mechanical tool-based machining, and long-pulse laser processing were developed for metals and alloys, and are incompatible with composites due to their low conductivity, and anisotropic thermal and mechanical properties. The UltraMach project aims to develop and commercially exploit a novel picosecond laser-based computer numerical control machining system that will enable industrial-scale economic material processing of composite components and support the pace of transformation required within the transportation sector. Ultra-short pulse (USP) laser technology (with pulse duration in the range of a few picoseconds (ps) to femtoseconds (fs)), which was recognised by a Noble Prize in 2018, can ablate virtually any material with negligible thermal defects. While this extraordinary capability has been proven in academic demonstrations, and a few niche applications, the issue of low material removal rate along with edge wall taper (during machining of thick materials) limits their relevance to the mass-production environment. This project will exploit the recent academic advances in picosecond laser technology along with the development of a fully integrated 8-axis (5-axis positioning stage and 3-axis galvanometer scanner) machining system for economic drilling, cutting and machining of aero-engine and power generation gas turbine components. The phase-1 of the project will focus on two aspects. Design and development of a fully integrated 8-axis laser system (that can orient the laser beam with a specific angle to control the edge wall taper) for machining of complex-shaped features with a high-aspect-ratio over gas turbine/aero-engine component, and broad in-depth research to establish the feasibility on economic picosecond laser machining of composites. Working closely with end-users and UK High-Value Manufacturing (HVM) catapult centre, this project aims to address the market gap on machine tools for the manufacturing of composite components and accelerate the exploitation of composites within the aerospace and power generation gas turbines to enable net-zero carbon economy.