Aero engines are made up of a large number of blades which are subject to wear and damage. They are expensive and must be repaired wherever possible. Engines also have small components which are required in small numbers that need to be developed rapidly. The first part of this research work focuses on developing a robust automated blade repair method using robotic welding. Optimal weld parameters were developed for build-up of edges having different thicknesses. Samples with varying Current and varying travel speed were produced and their micro hardness values were compared. Blade profiles were welded upon. The second part involves a methodology for producing small components using rapid prototyping (RP) techniques. This part involves use of 3D robotic welding for layered manufacturing. Tensile samples produced using the metal RP method were tested and results were found to be well above the minimum cast specifications for the given material.

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a rapid prototyping method in which three-dimensional objects are constructed by sintering thin layers of a variety of powdered materials via laser beam. In SLS, as in most other Rapid Prototyping methods, the produced parts exhibit varying degrees of intrinsic porosity due to the discrete nature of layer-by-layer production. Selective scanning and discrete bonding of individual particles or clusters of particles impart local porosity, which is mostly an undesired trait as the part integrity decreases with increased porosity. However, there are a number of emerging or potential applications as in tissue engineering and composite/functionally graded materials, in which part porosity and its control during production are needed. In this study, the manufacturing capabilities of selective laser sintering are investigated towards producing predesigned porous structures using a polymeric powder. The porous structures are characterized in two main categories: regular porous structures, which involve geometries such as predesigned holes and lattice structures that have orderly porous architecture, and irregular porous structures, which exhibit random pore architecture that is intrinsic in all SLS parts. The limitations of producing regular porous structures are investigated, identified and quantified, based on hole size and dimensional accuracy. An experimental analysis based on design of experiments is employed to investigate the effects of processing parameters on the resulting macroscopic pore properties of irregular porous structures. A mathematical relation is developed to quantify and predict the relations between the SLS process parameters: Laser power, hatching distance, laser scan spacing, and the resulting apparent mass density (as a measure of porosity). The subsequent tests verify accuracy of the developed empirical model.

Advances in additive manufacturing technologies have brought a new paradigm shift to both design and manufacturing. There is a much bigger design space in which designers can achieve a level of complexity and customizability, which are infeasible using traditional manufacturing processes. One application of this technology is for fabrication of meso-scale lattice structures (MSLS). These types of structures are designed to have material where it is needed for specific applications. They are suitable for any weight-critical applications, particularly in industries where both low weight and high strength are desired. MSLS can easily have hundreds to thousands of individual strut, where the diameter of each strut can be treated as a design variable. As a result, the design process poses a computational challenge. Since the computational complexity of the design problem often scales exponentially with the number of design variables, topological optimization that requires multi-variable optimization algorithm is infeasible for large-scale problems. In previous research, a new method was presented for efficiently optimizing MSLS by utilizing a heuristic that reduces the multivariable optimization problem to a problem of only two variables. The method is called the Size Matching and Scaling (SMS) method, which combines solid-body analysis and predefined unit-cell library to generate the topology of the structure. However, the method lacks a systematic methodology to generate the initial ground geometry for the design process, which limits the previous implementations of the SMS method to only simple, axis-aligned structures. In this research, an augmented SMS method is presented. The augmented method includes the integration of free-mesh approach in generating the initial ground geometry. The software that embodies that ground geometry generation process is integrated to commercial CAD system that allows designer to set lattice size parameters through graphical user interface. In this thesis, the augmented method and the unit-cell library are applied to various design examples. The augmented SMS method can be applied effectively in the design of conformal lattice structure with highly optimized stiffness and volume for complex surface. Conformal lattice structures are those conformed to the shape of a part's surface and that can used to stiffen or strengthen a complex and curved surface. This design approach removes the need for a rigorous topology optimization, which is a main bottleneck in designing MSLS.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Ilmenau.

Zugl.: Magdeburg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2002.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 1998. / Includes bibliography.

Zugl.: Duisburg, Essen, Univ., Diss., 2009

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.