Additive Manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V Aero Engine Parts: Qualification for Reliability
- PDF / 1,182,186 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 90 Downloads / 209 Views
TECHNICAL ARTICLE—PEER-REVIEWED
Additive Manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V Aero Engine Parts: Qualification for Reliability Mathews P. Samuel . Aditya Kumar Mishra . R. K. Mishra
Submitted: 22 December 2017 ASM International 2018
Abstract The present paper highlights the study carried out on the qualification aspects of aero engine parts manufactured through additive manufacturing process. The study covers mainly the parts of aeronautical workhorse material Ti-6Al-4V in terms of quality and reliability aspects contributing toward airworthiness. The mechanical properties of various methods of additive manufacturing have been compared, and manufacturing process parameters have been studied. The paper also highlights the process validation parameters and qualification approach for this type of manufacturing. Possible failure modes and imperfections have been focused with respect to their effect on quality and reliability of the end product. The failure mitigation plan has been evolved through a three-tier approach which will be very useful to ensure the reliability of the aero engine parts. Keywords Qualification Quality Airworthiness Additive Manufacturing Aeronautical parts
Introduction Additive manufacturing (AM) creates three-dimensional products by building parts layer by layer from powdered material using computer-aided design templates [1]. It offers greater flexibility in making complex shapes in contrast to the conventional metal removal processes. Its amenability for seamless design-manufacturing cycle automation makes it a routine in many industrial M. P. Samuel A. K. Mishra R. K. Mishra (&) Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification, Bangalore, India e-mail: [email protected]
applications. Currently, manufacturing industry without exception to aeronautical field is engrossed in customizing additive manufacturing and a lot of background preparations are on the anvil. Compared to conventional manufacturing, AM offers myriad advantages such as scrap reduction and short production cycle time with minimal usage of tools, especially for products having high ‘‘fly by ratio’’ (ratio of weight of raw material to weight of finished component). Typical examples of additive manufacturing employed by reputed aeronautical manufacturers, especially in the aero engine application, reported in the open literature are presented in Table 1. Among these, M/s general electric (GE) has Federal Aviation Administration certified high-volume additive manufacturing of sensor housing for measuring compressor inlet temperature [2]. The crucial issue to be addressed here is the quality and reliability of parts produced though additive manufacturing route and their consequent effect on the safety of air vehicles. Flight safety is the most important property of any flying system whose failure may lead to grave dangers to human life and property. Therefore, safety assumes profound importance in any civil society as a basic moral obligation to keep humans unharmed in relation to one’s own and/or others’ activiti
Data Loading...
