Additive Manufacturing Life Assessment Using Batch Test Pieces
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Additive manufacturing techniques face challenges in ensuring quality consistency due to sensitivity to various variables, making it difficult to guarantee the quality and operational life of components, especially in critical applications like gas turbines, where conventional verification methods require extensive testing and do not fully quantify the impact of build parameters on mechanical properties.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the manufacture of a batch of components, including test pieces, to determine mechanical properties and define the life of production components through empirical testing and feedback into the manufacturing process, using indicators to associate components with their properties and manufacturing parameters, allowing for iterative design and improvement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional verification techniques (finite element modelling, material testing, component life estimation) are used to guarantee quality of additive manufactured components, then quality certainty is improved, but the number of components requiring extensive testing increases and manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by incorporating test pieces into the additive manufacturing process before production components are finalized. Mechanical properties are determined from test pieces manufactured alongside production components, allowing life defining quantities to be calculated in advance without requiring extensive post-manufacturing testing of each production component.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses test pieces as copies that replicate the manufacturing process and material properties of production components. These test pieces are manufactured using the same additive manufacturing process and material, allowing their measured mechanical properties to represent the production components without requiring direct testing of each production component.
2Reliability
If conventional verification techniques are used to assess component life, then quality verification is achieved, but the complexity and number of testing requirements increase compared to conventional manufacturing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the testing function from the production components themselves by using separate test pieces. This separation allows the test pieces to be specifically designed for mechanical property determination while production components focus on their operational function, simplifying the overall verification process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal testing approach where test pieces manufactured alongside production components serve multiple purposes: they characterize the material properties for that specific build batch, validate the manufacturing process parameters, and provide data for life defining quantity calculations applicable to all production components from that batch.
3Productivity
If additive manufacturing is used to manufacture components, then manufacturing speed and simplicity are improved, but quality consistency becomes difficult to achieve due to sensitivity to multiple variables
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by using test pieces to characterize mechanical properties for each production batch, then using this data to calculate life defining quantities that feed back into the manufacturing process. This allows continuous optimization of build parameters and material properties to maintain quality consistency across different production batches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent addresses quality consistency by systematically varying and optimizing manufacturing parameters (laser power, scan speed, layer thickness, material composition) while using test pieces to measure the resulting mechanical properties. This allows identification of optimal parameter combinations that produce consistent, high-quality components.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A method of determining a life defining quantity of a production component (100, 200) manufactured by an additive manufacturing process. The method comprises the step of defining a plurality of components (100, 200, 300) to be manufactured by an additive manufacturing technique. The plurality of components (100, 200, 300) comprises a first test piece (310) and a first production component (100). The method further comprises manufacturing the components in the same manufacturing batch using an additive manufacturing process and with nominally the same material composition and build parameters. A characteristic mechanical property of the first test piece (310) is then determined. The method further comprises determining a value of a life defining quantity of the first production component (100) as a function of the first test piece (310) characteristic mechanical property. The first production component (100) and first test piece (310) are then provided with indicators (340, 341) which associate the first production component (100) with the determined life defining quantity.