Tony Schmitz's work is always insightful and enhances our understanding of hybrid manufacturing. #nsf #erc
Richard Rosenberg Distinguished Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville | Joint Faculty, Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Director, SEAMTN | Director, Machine Tool Research Center
Let's talk about hybrid manufacturing. As part of the NSF HAMMER Engineering Research Center activities, we are completing a project to compare combinations of additive manufacturing/wrought/forged preforms, structured light scanning, and CNC machining. We are recording the cost for each operation and then using tensile testing to measure the load-displacement data for each part up to and including fracture. We'll finally compare the process combinations based on cost and performance. The part design mimics a portion of the aerospace pickle fork, a?component that connects the wing structure, landing gear, and fuselage. The photograph shows (from left to right) wrought stainless steel, DED stainless steel, wrought aluminum, and WAAM aluminum parts. An additive friction stir deposition (AFSD) preform is shown on the left. We produced this component using our MELD Manufacturing Corporation L3 AFSD machine. The next steps are to scan and machine the preform to obtain the final geometry for testing.