Abstract
In this work a mechanical characterization of Ti6Al4V processed by electron beam powder bed fusion additive manufacturing was carried out to investigate the viability of this technology for the manufacturing of flyable parts for general aviation aircraft. Tests were performed on different manufacturing conditions in order to investigate the effect of post processing as machining on the mechanical behavior. The study provides useful information to airframe designers and manufacturing specialists that work with this technology. The investigation confirms the low process variability and provides data to be used in the design loop of general aviation primary structural elements. The test results show a high level of repeatability indicating that the process is well controlled and reliable enough to match the airworthiness requirements. In addition, the so-called “as-built specimens”, i.e., specimens produced by the electron beam melting machine without any major post-processing, have lower mechanical performances than specimens subjected to a machining phase after the electron beam melting process. Specific primary structural elements will be designed and flight cleared, resulting from the findings presented herein.
Highlights
The industrial need for multifunctional components of increasingly complex shapes, reduced material waste and lead time of new products has pushed research into the development of new manufacturing processes [1], e.g., additive manufacturing (AM) technology, which is increasingly applied in the aircraft industry [2,3] due to resulting benefits such as reduced warehousing, inventory management and overall supply chain costs
The results shown in this work were developed in the framework of Clean Sky 2 Small Aircraft more affordable Manufacturing project (SAT-AM), based on a consortium with a relevant track records for this size of aircraft [52,53,54,55], within which will be developed a primary structure element for general aviation application made in AM
A mechanical characterization of Ti6Al4V processed by electron beam melting (EBM) technology was performed in order to compare its performance with Ti6Al4V standard
Summary
The industrial need for multifunctional components of increasingly complex shapes, reduced material waste and lead time of new products has pushed research into the development of new manufacturing processes [1], e.g., additive manufacturing (AM) technology, which is increasingly applied in the aircraft industry [2,3] due to resulting benefits such as reduced warehousing, inventory management and overall supply chain costs. According to the ASTM Standard F2729-12 a [4], additive manufacturing can be defined as ‘the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies, such as traditional machining’. The AM processes were developed in the 1980s as a solution for quicker product development. They were called rapid prototyping, and aimed at producing three dimensional models or mock-ups in order to verify aesthetic and functional performances. In the last twenty years, digital manufacturing of metallic components produced directly from electronic data based on layer-by-layer fabrication has reached a high technological maturity, and is considered a new production technology named additive manufacturing [5,6,7]. AM techniques are versatile, flexible, highly customizable and allow the making of parts using a wide variety of materials, and Aerospace 2020, 7, 75; doi:10.3390/aerospace7060075 www.mdpi.com/journal/aerospace
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