Papers by Keyword: Aerospace

Abstract: The research focuses on cored blades made from the MAR-M247® Ni-based superalloy, which were manufactured through directional solidification with varying withdrawal rates of either 3.4 mm/min or 5.0 mm/min, and shell mold temperatures of 1510 °C or 1566 °C after undergoing solution heat treatment. The characterization of four variants of the cored blades was conducted using several analytical techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The XRD analysis identified the presence of the γ matrix, the intermetallic γ' phase, MC carbides, and M₅B₃ phases. The dendritic regions of the cored blades consist of secondary γ' precipitates surrounded by a γ matrix, with a mean size ranging from 0.264 to 0.272 μm, depending on the fabrication parameters.

Abstract: In the aerospace industry, hot forming processes, using materials like Ti-6Al-4V titanium, are known for their complexity and cost. Senior Aerospace Thermal Engineering (SATE) has traditionally relied on a trial-and-error approach for new product introductions (NPIs), which, while effective, has led to significant time and resource expenditures. This paper examines the transition of SATE's NPI processes to a more efficient digital approach using AutoForm Forming simulation software. By doing so, SATE has been able to accurately predict forming outcomes, optimize tooling designs, and significantly reduce both the number of physical tryouts and the overall project costs. Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the practical applications of this digitalization, highlighting how important engineering decisions were taken. The paper concludes with an assessment of the impact on SATE's operations, noting improvements in development time, feasibility assessments, and overall production efficiency.

Abstract: In this work, nanocomposites Alloy 625-xTiB₂ (x=1.25; 2.5; 3.75; 5.0 wt%) were processed through suction casting. The microstructure and selected properties were analyzed using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. It has been observed that introducing TiB₂ particles into Alloy 625 strongly influences the as-cast microstructure. A dendritic microstructure with irregular distribution of the strengthening precipitates has been revealed. In reference Alloy 625, the Nb-rich carbides and Laves phase precipitates exist in the interdendritic spaces. The TiB₂ interacted with the liquid Alloy 625 during suction casting, leading to microstructural changes like more precipitates in interdendritic spaces including newly formed B-rich phases.

Abstract: Excellent properties of titanium alloys as the high strength-to-weight ratio and exceptional corrosion resistance result very attractive for the industry. However, the high manufacturing costs of conventional processing methods, as well as the material waste remain challenging making these alloys only accessible to sectors such as aerospace.Additive manufacturing (AM) becomes an attractive solution to manufacture titanium based high-added value components due to the rapid prototyping, complex geometries manufacturing and waste reduction. Specifically, Laser Beam Directed Energy Deposition based on Metal Wire (DED-LB/Mw) process is becoming a key manufacturing process, mainly due to higher deposition rate, ability to build larger structures and high material efficiency compared with other usual AM technologies, as powder bed fusion (PBF), or powder-based DED processes (DED-LB/Mp). However, there are some challenges to industrialise the AM printed titanium alloys due to their high reactivity with oxygen at high temperature and mechanical properties of the deposited material because of extremely high residual stresses (RRSS).This paper reports the work carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of coaxial DED-LB/Mw process to manufacture a semi-spherical part, with potential application in the aerospace sector as a fuel tank. The work has been focused in three key issues:The effect of the argon shielding environments has been evaluated on three different configurations (local, inert chamber, local + inert chamber) to bring a deep understanding on the influence of protective conditions on process stability, surface quality, metallurgy and microhardness.The DED-LB/Mw processing of Ti-6Al-4V alloy has been parametrized to achieve the optimum process parameters attending to deposition rate and process stability. Mechanical properties have been also assessed on samples manufactured under the acceptable atmosphere condition.The optimal manufacturing strategy, with the established process parameters and protective atmosphere conditions, has been selected to manufacture the semi-spherical part also considering the trajectory limitations imposed by the required working movement conditions within the chamber

Abstract: Despite environmental general conscience, heavy use of paper is still one fact in nowadays factories. The shorter the manufacturing production, the greater the tendency to employ paper to support quality tracking of pieces; using it to register measurements or nonconformities. This tendency increases drastically in some manufactures like aerospace, where typical production ratios vary between 9 and 18 subassemblies per month. The current work presents an automatic speech recognition system, meant to replace paper by a digitalized version of the manual writing task. The work presents (i) industrial use cases with benefits and requirements; (ii) the system architecture, including several tested free Automatic Speech Recognition modules, their analysis; and (iii) some open-source supporting modules that improves its functionality. The work concludes presenting several tests, showing the system performance against different kind of industrial noises, low to high quality microphones and users with different dialects.

Abstract: In recent years, manufacturing companies have become more flexible and reconfigurable to adapt to new manufacturing paradigms and market demands. Simulation technology, which is one of the enablers of Industry 4.0, is usually used to evaluate the performance of manufacturing lines to predict their response against some manufacturing scenario. The concept of a digital twin has gained popularity in the last years. A digital twin is defined as a virtual system connected to the physical system that replicates its behavior. In this paper, a conceptual design of a digital twin-based manufacturing system is established. This includes the hierarchy of virtual elements, the relations between physical and virtual elements, and the definition of the data flow and type. A discrete event simulator has been developed to act as the digital twin of an anodizing treatment line. The simulator is connected to company systems through a neutral interface that feeds the simulator with the current manufacturing plan. The standalone digital twin has been validated using real data and allows one to perform what-if simulations in real time.

Abstract: Surface marks, such as scratches or cosmetic marks, commonly appear during the manufacturing phase of metallic components, because of the contact between tools and sharp edges with the surface of the parts. Scratches, depending on their width, depth, and root radius, cause a decrease in the fatigue life of metallic alloys. In particular, the presence of scratches with a size comparable to the grain size favors the generation of fatigue cracks in these features. In the aerospace industry, the presence of surface marks is a common cause of rejection. The low hardness of aluminium, a material widely employed in the manufacture of aerospace structures, contributes to the generation of surface marks. In this paper, a preliminary geometrical characterisation of scratches is established. It aims to define a set of parameters to characterise exhaustively the different scratches and to generate different behavior models for each type of scratch. Parameters such as scratch length, path radius, and burr height are considered in addition to the well-known parameters such as scratch depth, root radius, and open angle.

Abstract: Additive manufacturing is a process wherein a three-dimensional object is created layer-by-layer. It offers adaptability to the geometrical complexity and customizability of the design, which is difficult to manufacture using conventional manufacturing. The aerospace industry is one of the sectors that first adopted additive manufacturing, particularly three-dimensional printing (3D printing) in the production of aircraft parts such as rocket engine components, oil fuel tanks, environmental control system ducting, combustor liner, custom cosmetic aircraft interior components, and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) components. The aircraft's most common materials used in the 3D printing prototype parts are acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic, carbon-fiber and thermoplastic composite, and nylon 12 using selective laser sintering, fused deposition modeling, or composite filament co-extrusion technology. One of the aerospace industry's challenges is ensuring the efficiency and quality of aircraft structural parts that typically require complicated manufacturing due to their complexity and variability of function. Additive manufacturing is seen to respond to this challenge by developing and prototyping 3D printed parts and exploring practical 3D printing technologies.

Abstract: This study presents manufacturing lightweight aerospace components by solid state joining technologies. The advantages of solid state joining are due to the lack of hot cracking from solidification, since there is no liquid phase involved in joining process. This produces a high quality joint as compared to that from conventional fusion welding process. In diffusion bonding process, two different surfaces are matched together at elevated temperature under a low pressure without macroscopic plastic deformation in the interface. In friction stir welding process, the rotating shoulder of the tool generates frictional heat on the surface. As the pin rotates it forces the plastic material to mix mechanically in the vicinity of the pin and produces a heavily deformed microstructure around the pin. In this study, solid state joining processes of diffusion bonding and friction welding, are applied to manufacture several launcher components with lightweight, efficient and cost saving.

Abstract: This study presents manufacturing cryogenic tanks for aerospace applications. Since most high strength aerospace alloys like titanium alloys and Al-Li alloys exhibit low formability due to low ductility and work hardening, superplastic forming technology is applied to manufacture hemispherical shapes. Superplasticity is the ability of materials to deform plastically to show very large amount of strains. Advantages of superplastic forming technology include its design flexibility, low tooling cost and short leading time to produce. In this study, various manufacturing processes, like superplastic forming, diffusion bonding, laser beam welding and friction stir welding, are applied to manufacture titanium and aluminum cryogenic tanks. Using these technologies in manufacturing process makes the aerospace components lighter and stiffer, with efficient energy and cost saving.