3D printed composite material structures for aerospace

当今航空航天工业面临的挑战之一是低产量部件的高能效和低成本制造。虽然热塑性复合材料的使用在当今的飞机中变得越来越普遍，但金属紧固件和支架仍然是紧固各种部件的最常见解决方案。由于数值建模和设计优化的进步，飞机部件的设计复杂性正在稳步增加。这导致了对复杂硬件、小型和大型部件的专业化小批量生产的需求。因此，加拿大航空航天供应商非常积极地开发新的方法来制造飞机认证的硬件和部件，以改善目前的设计灵活性和质量，同时保持所需的安全标准和机械性能。聚合物基复合材料增材制造领域的研究，特别是熔丝制造（FFF），显示出作为创新制造工艺的有前途的解决方案。哈钦森航空航天与工业公司和麦吉尔大学之间拟议的研究项目的目标是FFF技术的科学和技术进步，使材料和工艺适合于为航空航天工业生产可重复的高质量零件。更具体地说，该项目致力于3D打印复合材料领域的进步，通过FFF加工高性能复合材料，以及通过利用智能监控技术与数值模拟方法相结合来减少与3D打印相关的臭名昭著的工艺变化。此外，创新和强大的大规模3D打印系统的开发将把航空航天零件的增材制造技术推向一个新的水平。

One of the challenges in today's aerospace industry is the energy efficient and cost-effective manufacturing of low-volume components. While the usage of thermoplastic composites becomes increasingly common in today's aircrafts, metallic fasteners and brackets remain the most common solution to fasten various components. Due to advancements in numerical modelling and design optimization, the design complexity of aircraft components is steadily increasing. This results in the demand of specialized low volume production of complex hardware, small and large sized components. Canadian aerospace suppliers are therefore highly motivated to develop new methods to fabricate aircraft certified hardware and components that improve on current design flexibility and mass, while maintaining the required safety standards and mechanical properties. Research in the field of additive manufacturing of polymer-based composites, specifically fused filament fabrication (FFF) shows a promising solution as an innovative manufacturing process. The objective of the proposed research project between Hutchinson Aerospace and Industry and McGill University is the scientific and technological advancement of FFF technology to make the materials and process suitable to produce repeatable high-quality parts for the aerospace industry. More specifically, this project strives for advancements in the field of 3D printable composite materials, processing of high-performance composites via FFF, as well as the reduction of the notorious process variations associated to 3D printing by leveraging smart monitoring technology coupled with numerical simulation approaches. In addition, the development of an innovative and robust, large scale 3D printing system will push the state of the art of additive manufacturing for aerospace parts to a new level.