In-situ Automated Scan-assisted Repair using Hybrid Manufacturing

Abstract

Mechanical parts sustain significant wear throughout their lifetime and consequently get defects such as cracks, abrasion, erosion, or breakage. For instance, turbine blades experience high pressure and temperature fields which can cause damage, corrosion, and indentation. In this case, the parts are replaced, resulting in significant time and financial costs. One possible remedy for these losses is to repair the volume using additive manufacturing (AM) through directed energy deposition processes. AM offers multiple advantages such as high precision and accuracy, a limited amount of material used for repair, and reduction of remanufacturing time. This project focuses on an in-situ, automated repair strategy by plasma transfer arc AM. A sequence of computational algorithms and a hybrid CNC machine with an integrated 3D scanner are used to repair worn parts. All the steps for repair are applied in-situ, from the scanning process to the final repair process. The integrated process results in a single-setup operation, reducing the part movements between stations and associated setup times. The approach also provides a unified digital toolchain to enable one-step metrology, subtractive manufacturing, and AM process.