Novel sensorized additive manufacturing-based enlighted tooling concepts for aeronautical parts

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Aerospace Engineering

Background:

• Traditional tooling systems lack real-time monitoring capabilities.
• Additive manufacturing offers potential for lightweight and flexible tooling solutions.
• Integrating sensors into tooling can enhance process control and quality assurance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop lightweight tooling concepts using additive manufacturing for aerospace applications.
• To integrate sensors for real-time monitoring and control of tooling during part manufacturing.
• To investigate the use of directed energy arc and wire deposition (DED-arc) for both tooling and part fabrication.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing additive manufacturing (specifically DED-arc) for fabricating lightweight tooling.
• Integrating sensors (measuring displacement, humidity, temperature) into the tooling.
• Conducting mechanical characterization and microstructural analysis of DED-arc manufactured materials.
• Applying Design for Additive Manufacturing principles.

Main Results:

• Developed lightweight sensor-equipped turrets, reducing weight from 6 kg to 2.2 kg.
• Achieved real-time monitoring and control of turret deformation within a ±0.15 tolerance.
• Established a control point for turret deformation during aeronautical part manufacturing.
• Demonstrated the potential for correlating sensor data with process quality variables.

Conclusions:

• Additive manufacturing enables the creation of advanced, intelligent tooling systems for aerospace.
• Sensor integration provides valuable real-time data for process optimization and quality improvement.
• Lightweight structures combined with sensor technology enhance manufacturing efficiency and part accuracy.