Metallization of Polymeric Structures With a Hybrid Thermal Spray - Laser Cladding Process

第六集团技术公司和阿尔伯塔大学希望在参与基金的支持下解决的直接行业问题是开发一种混合制造工艺，利用热喷涂和激光熔覆将厚金属和陶瓷或陶瓷增强金属层沉积到聚合物结构上。设想这些金属或金属增强层将为聚合物结构提供磨损保护，同时在需要时产生热能，用于防冰或除冰协议。在风力涡轮机和航空航天工业中，碳纤维增强聚合物（CFRP）等聚合物材料被用作制造翼型结构（如涡轮叶片和机翼）的首选材料；然而，由于这些材料的低导热性，在运行过程中，翼型上的冰形成会导致边界层的破坏，增加阻力，并带来严重的安全问题。因此，开发易于批量生产且能够提供表面加热的新型防冰或除冰系统将是改善翼型性能和安全运行的理想选择。

The immediate industry problem that Group Six Technologies and the University of Alberta wish to resolve under the auspices of this Engage Grant is the development of a hybrid fabrication process that utilizes thermal spraying and laser cladding to deposit thick metal and ceramic- or cermet-reinforced metal layers on to polymeric structures. It is envisaged that these metal or metal-reinforced layers will serve to provide wear protection to the polymeric structures while contemporaneously generating heat energy, when needed, to serve in anti-icing or de-icing protocols. In the wind turbine and aerospace industries, polymeric materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) are used as the material of choice to fabricate airfoil structures such as the turbine blades and wings; however, due to the low thermal conductivity of these materials, ice formation on the airfoils during operation causes the disruption of boundary layers, increases drag, and poses serious safety problems. Therefore, the development of novel anti-icing or de-icing systems that can be easily mass-produced and that can provide surface heating would be ideal to improve the performance and safe operation of the airfoils.