Simulation and Additive Manufacturing of Complexly Designed Aircraft Component

Authors:

Yan Liu (1), Erik Adolfsson (2), Örjan Christoffersson (3), Seyed B. Hosseini (2,3), Zhenghua Yan (1)

1-Simtec Soft Sweden AB, Sweden

2-Research Institutes of Sweden AB (RISE AB), Sweden

3-TurnTime Technologies AB, Sweden

4-Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Abstract:

An innovative component used for the cargo handling systems of Boeing 737 aircraft is developed to improve loaders’ working conditions and protect cargo spaces, passenger luggage, and goods from damage. Since the design of the component makes it difficult to manufacture using conventional techniques, metal Binder Jetting, an Additive Manufacturing technique both faster and more cost-effective compared to the conventional laser/electron beam techniques, is used. However, there is a risk of thermally induced distortion in connection with the post-processing, specifically the sintering step. To address this, a 3D computational fluid dynamics simulation model is developed and simulations are made to identify where and when unwanted distortions may occur during the sintering process. In the simulation, the sintering process follows about 15 hours full sintering cycle with all the heating, holding and cooling stages. The simulations are compared with experiments to validate the numerical results.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59499/EP235762437