Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2020-2021).

Aeronautic parts with varying section thicknesses require extensive machining to produce and more often thanx000D
not, this is done using high value materials. This leads to high part production costs which in their final shapex000D
would require significantly less material (high buy-to-fly ratio). Additive manufacturing (AM) brings newx000D
opportunities in design and manufacturing. One such opportunity comes from AM processes that can addx000D
material on existing parts such as directed energy deposition, welding, thermal projection and brazing. Forx000D
example, those processes allow the addition of metal on thin parts where thicker sections are required;x000D
therefore significantly reducing the amount of material required (thus decreasing the buy-to-fly ratio). Multiplex000D
concerns arise from those processes regarding the production of aeronautic critical parts, such as thex000D
mechanical properties of the bond, distortion and residual stress induced in the parts.x000D
From the technical and commercial points of view, the ability to add metal or modify sections of existing partsx000D
brings the possibility to significantly reduce the amount of material machined, therefore decreasing thex000D
buy-to-fly ratio, which is a constant objective in the aeronautic field where high value materials are used,x000D
particularly for titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) and nickel (Inconel 625) alloys.x000D
The purpose of this project is thus to evaluate the effects of the different additive manufacturing depositionx000D
technologies on the integrity of the bonds created, the distortion and the residual stresses induced by thex000D
thermal processes and to compare those characteristics to the economics of the process. This will provide thex000D
industrial partners list of selection criteria when selecting which additive manufacturing assembly process tox000D
use.