TOUCHING THE SKY IN LESSER COSTS

The buy to fly ratio is ~ 28 just in case of a conventionally factory-made AISI 316L bracket. Additive manufacturing will bring down the get to fly ratio to ~ 1, leading to significant value and time savings.

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is perceived as an innovative processing method to replace traditionally produced parts, including castings and multi component parts. 3D printing helps to create parts in a brief timeframe, with least material wastage and permitting more elevated level of customization. In this case two brackets were made using AISI-316L grade for aviation applications using laser powder bed fusion technology. A thorough analysis was performed on the powder, to check for structural integrity to qualify the component for functional testing. A large amount of material was removed, extreme machining time and related issues, for example, residual stress and warpage conceived which would happen in conventional methods have been eradicated by taking up Additive Manufacturing. The mechanical properties meet the prerequisites of ASTM F 3184-16 norm resulting in similar or better part built. Despite the successful built a minor contortion was noticed in the thin wall region which was resolved by adding extra stock in the thin section and later post-processed by machining. The brackets were found to be free from any defects > 100 µm as non-destructive testing was performed by large macro CT. Furthermore, it has been identified that there is ample scope of Topology optimization which can lead to weight saving, thus increasing efficiency.

THE CHALLENGE