Additively Manufactured Metal Assembly With Resistive Weld Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current additive manufacturing techniques face challenges in producing large-scale aerospace components due to size limitations and high costs associated with large-scale machines, as well as difficulties in machining titanium-based materials, which are often required for high-temperature and high-pressure applications.
Innovation Solution
The method involves additively manufacturing metal portions and joining them using a welded joint with a resistive heating material, such as a wire or deposited layer, to produce heat for welding, allowing for the creation of complex geometries without the need for large-scale machines and reducing manufacturing time and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If additive manufacturing is used to form large-scale parts, then manufacturing cost and time are reduced, but the available machine volume limits the maximum part size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides a large-scale part into multiple smaller sub-components that can be individually manufactured within the build volume limitations of additive manufacturing machines. These segmented components are then joined together through welding to form the complete large-scale assembly, thereby overcoming the machine volume constraint while maintaining the productivity benefits of additive manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs nesting by placing resistive heating material (such as wire or foil) inside hollow chambers or cavities of the additively manufactured components. This allows the heating element to be integrated within the part structure itself, enabling post-manufacturing heat treatment without requiring external heating equipment and further reducing overall system volume requirements.
2Reliability
If titanium-based materials are used for high-temperature and high-pressure applications, then operational reliability is improved, but machining difficulty and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical machining processes with additive manufacturing for titanium-based components. Additive manufacturing eliminates the need for complex machining operations required for titanium, significantly reducing manufacturing difficulty and cost while maintaining the ability to produce high-strength, heat-resistant titanium parts with complex geometries that would be difficult or impossible to machine.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the manufacturing process parameters from subtractive (machining) to additive (layer-by-layer deposition). This fundamental parameter change allows titanium-based materials to be formed into complex shapes directly without requiring hard dies or extensive machining, thereby improving ease of manufacture while preserving the material's operational reliability for high-temperature and high-pressure applications.
3Adaptability or versatility
If sheet metal techniques are used to form large parts, then manufacturing flexibility is maintained, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional sheet metal forming techniques (cutting, bending, joining) with additive manufacturing. This substitution eliminates the need for multiple sequential manufacturing steps, complex tooling, and extensive post-processing operations, thereby reducing overall manufacturing complexity while maintaining the flexibility to produce complex geometries and large-scale parts in a single integrated process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the efficient production of large-scale metal articles with complex geometries, reduces manufacturing complexity and costs, and supports on-demand manufacturing, overcoming size limitations and material processing challenges of traditional methods.
Implementation Method 1
a resistive heating material disposed within an interior of the welded joint, the resistive heating material comprising a different material than the first additively manufactured metal portion and the second additively manufactured metal portion
Data Source
AI summary
An article comprising additively manufactured metal portions is described. The article comprises a first additively manufactured metal portion, and a second additively manufactured metal portion coupled to the first additively manufactured metal portion at a welded joint. The article further comprises a resistive heating material disposed within an interior of the welded joint, the resistive heating material comprising a different material than the first additively manufactured metal portion and the second additively manufactured metal portion.