AEROSPACE


(DMD) and powder bed laser systems for aerospace additive manufacturing. According to Markus Wolf, head of research and development at OR Laser, an average power of 300W is enough to carry out DMD for most of the laser applications in the aerospace industry. ‘Te latest innovation for the aviation manufacturing processes is in the field of DMD,’ Wolf said. ‘DMD offers a lot of advantages in the repair of aviation parts, generation of high quality functional metal layers or coatings, and additive manufacturing of parts.’ Te company’s powder bed solution, the Orlas Creator, uses a 250W ytterbium fibre laser at 1,070nm. As with Coherent, OR Laser focuses primarily


on the construction and repair of jet engine components, which – like the rest of the aircraſt – consists of expensive light alloys of aluminium or titanium, in addition to carbon fibre-reinforced materials. Heavier nickel alloys are used, especially in the hot part of the engine, where the temperatures are too high for titanium alloys. OR Laser is currently looking to enhance its


metal additive manufacturing capabilities through planned cooperation projects with both industrial and academic partners, aiming to develop digital technologies for self-learning optimisation in laser-based additive manufacturing. ‘Tis project will help to develop strategies and technologies to improve the process in terms of stability and reproducibility,’ Wolf explained. Te fabrication of whole components using


additive manufacturing requires a higher level of precision than part repair. ‘For the manufacture of a complete part in a powder bed, you need a better beam quality because you’re typically


Repair of a workpiece via additive manufacturing


working with fairly long focusing optics,’ explained Kleine. Te technique uses a 500mm scanning optic in addition to a single-mode fibre laser in order to achieve the desired part dimensions. Aſter Coherent’s acquisition of Rofin earlier this year, the Rofin FL fibre laser series is recommended by Coherent for metal additive manufacturing systems intended for complete part fabrication. Rofin FL lasers are available in both single- and multi-mode versions at 1,070nm and powers between 500-8,000W. ‘Tey’re [aerospace manufacturers] now


was reduced from 1.09kg to just 0.38kg using additive manufacturing


An aircraft bracket


starting to make complete parts such as brackets, with a few hundred of these in each plane,’ said Kleine. ‘Tey can save weight on each of these parts, translating to a few hundred kilograms across the whole aircraſt.’ Using conventional methods to manufacture these brackets requires around 10kg of material to produce a final structure of approximately 1kg. ‘We have suboptimal designs


because we’re limited by conventional manufacturing,’ said


Eric Masanet, leader of a Northwestern University team that confirmed in a case study last year that the total weight of an aircraſt could be reduced by four to seven per cent through using metal additive manufacturing. ‘When you can make something in layer-by-layer fashion, those constraints diminish,’ he continued. According to the case study, an aircraſt bracket


was reduced from 1.09kg to just 0.38kg using additive manufacturing. Weight saved produces lighter, more


streamlined and more efficient aircraſt, and the cost of raw materials is also reduced. Te challenge with additive manufacturing,


Airbus uses a fibre layup process, supplied by MTorres 16 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE ISSUE 33 • WINTER 2016


according to Kleine, is not in delivering lasers of high power, but being able to design systems that are capable of using them. ‘Te limitation for this field is not the power,’ he explained. ‘It is possible to make 5kW single-mode lasers for this application, but it’s not currently possible to make a powder bed system that is compatible with a laser of that output. So this is a challenge that needs to be overcome in order to make additive manufacturing systems faster.’


@lasersystemsmag | www.lasersystemseurope.com


MTorres


OR Laser


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