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Repair of aircraft components with Additive

Manufacturing Laser Cladding Technology – Examples
and Modelling
Kevin Walker1, Qianchu Liu1 and Tim Cooper2
1. DST Group
2. QinetiQ

Presenters : Kevin Walker and Tim Cooper

AA&S Conference
Brisbane, Australia, 19-21 July 2017

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Acknowledgements
▪ Dr Qianchu Liu, Dr Richard Djugum, DST Group
▪ Professor Milan Brandt and Dr Stephen Sun, RMIT
University Centre for Additive Manufacturing
▪ Mr Neil Matthews, RUAG Australia
▪ Associate Professor Suresh Palanisamy, Swinburne
University
▪ Hardchrome Engineering
▪ Mr Noel Goldsmith, DST Group
▪ Dr J. Lourenco, Rio Grande do Norter Federal
Institute of Technology, Brasil
▪ Drs Anna Paradowska and Mark Reid, ANSTO
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Presentation Outline
▪ Background and Introduction

▪ Laser Cladding Repairs (Geometry Restoration)

▪ Certification and Acceptance Strategy (Geometry

Restoration Repairs)

▪ Laser Cladding Repairs (Structural)

▪ Tim Cooper to present on thermal modelling aspects

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Background and
Introduction

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Why Laser Cladding as a repair technology?

▪ Makes repair of expensive components possible
▪ Can repair components when lead-time may be excessive
▪ Can improve performance of the part

Liu, Q., Janardhana, M., Hinton, B., Brandt, M., and Sharp, P., Laser cladding as a potential repair technology for damaged aircraft components.
International Journal of Structural Integrity, 2011. 2(3): pp. 314-331.
Liu, Q., Walker, K.F., Djugum, R., and Sharp, P.K., Repair of Australian military aircraft components by additive manufacturing technology, in
NATO Specialists Meeting on Additive manufacturing for Military Hardware. 2016: Tallinn, Estonia.
Liu, Q., Djugum, R, Sun, S., Walker, K., Choi, J., and Brandt, M., Repair and Manufacturing of Military Aircraft Components by Additive
Manufacturing Technology, in 17th Australian Aerospace Congress. 2017: Melbourne, Australia.
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Advantages of Laser Cladding

▪ Low dilution and heat input
▪ Low material distortion
▪ Low porosity, no micro-cracking, minimal heat
affected zone, no or minimal damage to the
substrate
▪ Good metallurgical bond
▪ Good mechanical properties
▪ Powder blend and process can be managed to
achieve desired mechanical properties

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Two categories of repair

Geometry restoration Structural

▪ Residual strength and ▪ Damage is such that
fatigue life not static strength and/or
compromised by the fatigue life margins are
damage compromised
▪ Repair needed to ▪ Need to demonstrate
restore: that the repair restores
– Form, fit and function structural integrity, in
– Corrosion protection addition to the
– Surface finish geometry restoration
requirements
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Laser Cladding Process

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cladding)

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Laser Cladding Set-Up

Laser cladding facility at RMIT University, Australia

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Laser Cladding Example Cases

Geometry restoration
▪ F/A-18A Rudder anti-rotation bracket
▪ F/A-18F AIM-9X Forward Hanger
▪ C-130J Landing gear shelf bracket
▪ F/A-18A Engine mount
▪ First stage compressor blisk

Structural restoration
▪ Ultra-high strength AerMet®100 steel

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Laser Cladding Repairs

Geometry Restoration

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F/A-18 Rudder Anti-Rotation Bracket

• Unserviceable damage due to wear
• Precipitation-hardened stainless steel 17-4 PH
• Geometrical restoration (No post heat treatment)
• Clad hardness to match component

Liu, Q., Brandt, M., Matthews, N., and Sharp, P.K., Repair of an F/A-18 Rudder Anti-Rotation Bracket using Laser Cladding Technology, DSTO-
TR-2847, 2013, DSTO.

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F/A-18 Rudder Anti-Rotation Bracket

• Machine damaged area
• Develop a laser cladding repair (mixed powders)
• 60% 420SS, 40% 316SS
• Clad & machine to tolerance
• TRL 9 (Certification approved, applied to aircraft)

After Repair (as-clad)

Before Repair After Repair (machined)

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F/A-18F AIM-9X Missile Forward Hanger Assembly

Wear Damage
Dampeners

• Unserviceable damage due to wear

• Dampeners causing flange wear damage FHA Block
• Allowable flange tolerance 0.25 mm
FWD
• Geometry restoration AIM-9X
CATM Tube
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Repair of F/A-18F Forward Hanger Assembly

Damaged by Wear

Material: Cast PH13-8 stainless steel

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Repair of F/A-18F Forward Hanger Assembly

During Repair

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Repair of F/A-18F Forward Hanger Assembly

(a) (b)
Damaged surface Grind out

Flange
thickness
4.87-4.98 mm
FWD Recess depth
~4.92 mm
Shoulder depth,
6.62-6.81 mm

(c) (d)
LC repair Machining
Process developed:
* Matched on hardness
* Awaiting certification

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Introduction
Laser Cladding Repair C-130J Landing Gear Shelf
Bracket Corrosion

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C-130J Landing Gear Shelf Bracket Details

▪ 4140 steel forging
▪ Corrosion in drag pin holes
▪ Corrosion damage depth limit is very
conservative – maximum allowable depth
12 µm, 0.0005 in
▪ Typically find 3 out of 4 brackets need to
be replaced at 6 yearly depot servicing

Walker, K.F., Liu, Q., Brandt, M., and Sun, S., Repair of a Critical C-130J Landing Gear
Component with Additive Manufacturing Laser Cladding Technology, in ASIP Conference. 2016:
San Antonio Texas USA.

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Internal Cladding System

Schematic of a cladding nozzle for the internal repair,

designed by Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology

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Set-up for Repair of C-130J Shelf Bracket

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Repair of F/A-18 Engine Mount

• Unserviceable damage due to wear

• Titanium Alloy (Ti-6Al-4V)
• Geometrical restoration (No post heat treatment)

Damaged area

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Repair of F/A-18 Engine Mount

Engine mount

Laser nozzle

Set-up for repair at Swinburne University

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Repair of F/A-18 Engine Mount

Repaired area in Engine mount (at Swinburne University)

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AM Repair of Dynamic Engine Components

▪ FOD impacts to integrally bladed engine
compressor rotors can render these high-value
components unserviceable.
▪ Impact damage can be repaired by two
methods – subtractive and additive.
▪ Subtractive repair involves grinding out and
blending the damaged area. This can affect the
high-cycle fatigue response of the component.
▪ Additive repair uses laser powder deposition to
rebuild the damaged area, restoring it to its
original geometry.
▪ Challenges for AM repair of dynamic
components, such as Ti-6-4 rotors, include the
effects of heat affected zones, achieving
desirable microstructures in the repair
material, and defects such as porosity.

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Certification and
Acceptance
Laser cladding repairs
(Geometry
Restoration)

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Certification and Acceptance Strategy –

Geometry Restoration Repairs Only

Judgement of Hazard Design

Significance Analysis Analysis

Design
Acceptance Deviation Certification

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Laser Cladding Repairs

Structural

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Structural Repair of AerMet®100 Steel

▪ AerMet®100 32/20 mm dia round bar samples
▪ 0.25 mm deep crack starter
▪ 0.5 mm deep, 10 mm long groove, repaired by cladding with
TRUMPF TrueLaser Cell 7020 System

Walker, K.F., Lourenco, J.M., Sun, S., Brandt, M., and Wang, C.H., Quantitative fractography and modelling of fatigue crack propagation in high strength
AerMet100 steel repaired with a laser cladding process. International Journal of Fatigue, 2017.

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Test Results : As-clad

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Residual Stress Measurement

1  ( z / d )2
 R ( z )   R ,max
1  ( z / d ) 
2 2

Satisfies the zero net

force condition


0
 R ( z )dz  0

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Crack Behaviour & Prediction:

- Slow fatigue crack growth due to the compressive residual stress in clad layer
- Ability to restore strength and fatigue life is very promising
- Crack growth modelling being updated with recent X-Ray diffraction results – expect
an improvement
- Ability to model the residual stress behaviour will greatly improve our capability to
design these structural repairs – to be discussed next by Tim Cooper

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Tim Cooper – Modelling of the thermal effects

of the Laser Cladding Process

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Back Up Slides

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Laser Cladding Details

▪ AerMet®100 steel powder, Sandvik, gas atomized,
particle size range 45-75 µm, mean size 60 µm
▪ TRUMPF TrueLaser Cell 7020 system with 3.0 kW fiber
laser and coaxial laser cladding head
▪ Helium carrier gas, Argon shielding gas
C Mn Ni S Cr Si Mo Fe Co
AerMet®100 steel
0.23 0.01 11.13 0.001 3.0 0.02 1.17 bal. 13.43
substrate
AerMet®100 steel
0.24 0.86 11.3 0.00 3.1 0.96 1.21 bal. 13.4
powder

Step-
Transverse Powder Carrier gas
Laser Number of Laser spot over Shielding gas
speed flow rate flow
power (W) pass size (mm) width flow (L/min)
(mm/min) (g/min) (L/min)
(mm)

800 1 1.3 1400 5.15 0.6 10 16

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Judgement of Significance
▪ Addresses the consequence and risk of incorporating
the proposed repair.
▪ The scope of the proposed laser cladding repair is
determined to be geometrical only.
▪ The effect of the design change in terms of form, fit
or function is also assessed and possible failure of
the component is considered.

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Hazard Analysis
▪ Investigates the risk associated with laser cladding
repairs as opposed to replacing the component. Any
hazard description, effects, risk and risk mitigation
are addressed.
▪ For example, dimensional tolerance is restored,
structural integrity is not compromised, material
hardness remains the same, quality control of the
process and powder used is established and the
consequence of failure is no worse than leaving the
component in its current worn stage.

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Design Analysis
▪ Investigates the in-service loading conditions acting
on the repaired region and its structural integrity due
to material loss.
▪ Repair criteria are established in which the maximum
allowable or acceptable damage is identified.

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Design Certification
▪ Formal approval or acceptance of the repair is
established based on the three preceding criteria.

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Deviation
▪ The repair method or standard operating procedure
documentation is established for conducting future
repairs.

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