Turbine Blank Localized Roughness for Additive Support Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing additive manufacturing processes for turbine engine parts, such as powder bed selective fusion, face challenges in creating parts with significant cantilevers due to instability of temporary supports, which can lead to breakage during manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating localized rough regions with serrations, protrusions, or grooves on the part or structure element to enhance support hooking and reduce laser radiation reflection, allowing for improved stability and heat dissipation during the manufacturing process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a temporary support is used to make a part with a significant cantilever, then the part can be manufactured, but the support may breakage during manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a rough region at a specific location on the blank where the support will contact. This localized surface modification provides enhanced mechanical interlocking only at the support interface, while the rest of the part maintains its original geometry. The rough region with its protrusions and grooves creates a mechanically interlocked connection that prevents support breakage during manufacturing.
2Ease of manufacture
If a smooth surface is used on the blank, then the manufacturing process is simpler, but the support hooking is poor
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of roughening the entire blank surface which would complicate manufacturing, the patent applies surface roughening only at the specific location where support contact is needed. This localized approach maintains manufacturing simplicity while providing the necessary mechanical interlocking strength at the support interface through protrusions and grooves.
3Reliability
If a rough region is added to the blank, then support stability is improved, but the blank requires additional processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent minimizes the complexity increase by confining the roughening operation to a small, localized region on the blank rather than treating the entire surface. This localized rough region provides the necessary support stability while keeping the additional processing minimal and focused only on the area where support contact occurs.
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
The localized rough regions provide a stable mechanical support and reduce the risk of part deformation and breakage, enabling successful additive manufacturing of complex geometries like cantilevers in turbine engine components.
Implementation Method 1
heating a predefined area of the powder layer by a laser beam... The energy supplied by this beam causes the local melt-down or the local sintering of the powder
Implementation Method 2
The rough region may also allow limiting the amount of reflected energy of the laser radiation on other portions of the part or of the structure
Data Source
AI summary
A production of a structure for a turbomachine by additive manufacturing, including the following steps: a) providing an element having at least one localised rough region, in particular produced by machining, b) using powder bed fusion additive manufacturing in order to deposit a layer of material resulting from the fusion on the element.