The Amos consortium developed a process for planning and simulating the additive repair of damaged aerospace components.
Once a damaged part has been delivered to the repair site, there are two main tasks to complete before the repair can be made:
- Determine the repair geometry – the size and shape of the damaged region.
- Work out the toolpath for the additive manufacturing head.
Partners developed a benchmark test for scanning equipment to ensure that the types of damage being studied in the project could be recognised. The test was validated using Liburdi’s scanner.
Students at McGill created a software tool for analysing and reconstructing the damaged area and validated it on real industrial components provided by the partners.
A process planning and simulation system was created. A high-level planner creates the repair toolpath which is translated into machine-specific code by a post-processor. The process planner can be used to increase build reliability and predict the resultant build quality.
GKN developed a multidisciplinary design optimisation framework to integrate information from the different DED systems under investigation. The goals was to assess the repair and remanufacturing potential and to match design decisions with maintenance options. The system assesses the economic benefits of the different repair strategies and allows components to be redesigned based on typical damage and repair options to achieve better performance and a longer service life.
