Dr Helen Lockett, School of Engineering

Cranfield University

AILU Workshop Airbus UK

26th March 2009

Design for Additive Layer Manufacture

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Presentation Overview

•  Overview of the Ready to User Additive Manufacturing (RUAM) project

•  Objectives of design for Additive Layer Manufacture (ALM)

•  Initial design activities in the RUAM project

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RUAM Project

•  Cranfield Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) and industry funded project ~ £2m

•  4 years commencing Nov 2007

•  12 industrial partners

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Design for Additive Manufacture

RUAM Project Outputs

•  Design of structures for additive manufacture

•  New and improved processes !  Additive manufacture !  Grinding

•  Low cost CNC deposition system •  Low cost RUAM system (3D &

milling) •  Fully integrated robotic RUAM

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Equipment and Software

Development

RUAM: Partners

Welding and grinding

consumables and equipment

End Users

Academic Partner

Processes

RUAM Current Activities

RUAM Technologies

Deposition Grinding

Design

Measurement

Integrated Processes

Objectives of Design for Additive Layer Manufacture

•  Additive Layer Manufacture has the potential to allow engineers greater freedom to create designs that could not be cost-effectively manufactured using traditional manufacturing processes

But •  Additive Layer Manufacture also

introduces new design requirements that must be accommodated by the designer to ensure a manufacturable solution

Design of Stiffened Structures

A-6 Greenliner, Designed by Aerospace Vehicle Design students, Cranfield University, 2006 – 7.

Typical manufacturing processes for stiffened structures

•  Fabrication •  Machining •  Carbon Fibre Composites

Examples of Novel Stiffened Structures

Image sources: Israeli Aircraft Industries Ltd, Helsinki University of Technology, NASA, CIRA-Italian Aerospace Research Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg

Design for Manufacture Aims of RUAM Project

•  To design parts that capitalise on the design freedoms of the ALM process, are optimised to their applied loads and can be manufactured at an acceptable cost

•  To develop a Design Handbook for the RUAM ALM process

Initial Design Studies

Substrate Plate: 500 x 500 mm Stiffeners’ Height: 50 mm Material: Titanium

Design studies performed by Panos Kazanas, Cranfield PhD student

Finite Element Analysis

•  Loaded edges: Simply supported (translations constant, rotations free) •  Unloaded edges: Simply supported (rotations and y translation, free) •  Uni-axial load: w=100 N/mm (applied only on the plate edge) •  Meshing: Free type, parabolic type element •  Mid-surface model with application of thickness as a physical property

Buckling Load

Next Steps…

Substrate Plate: 500 x 500 mm Stiffeners’ Height: 50 mm Material: Titanium

Initial Design Guidelines for RUAM ALM process

•  Key objective is to identify design guidelines for the RUAM ALM process to develop a “Design Handbook” for ALM

•  Initial guidelines for the RUAM development process have been captured and are being used to aid the development of future designs

Summary

•  Design for Additive Layer Manufacture is an important development stage towards applying ALM processes in practice

•  ALM processes give designers an opportunity to rethink traditional design approaches and develop novel design concepts

•  But, ALM also introduces new design constraints that must be considered

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