IGF::OT::IGF THIS STTR PHASE II PROPOSAL BUILDS UPON THE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED PHASE I FEASIBILITY STUDIES…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF THIS STTR PHASE II PROPOSAL BUILDS UPON THE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED PHASE I FEASIBILITY STUDIES TO FURTHER DEVELOP AND ADVANCE THE TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO REDUCE THE TIME AND COST OF PRODUCING NI ALLOY REGENERATIVELY COOLED LRE NOZZLES USING FREE FORM AM PROCESSES. THE FREE FORM MDDM AM PROCESS WAS MATURED BY KEYSTONE UNDER AN ONR SPONSORED SBIR PROJECT [4]. FURTHER REFINEMENT OCCURRED UNDER KEYSTONE IR&D EFFORTS WHICH DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITY TO DIRECTLY DEPOSIT A FREE FORM NOZZLE LINER. KEYSTONE IS PROPOSING LOW COST METHODS TO SUBSEQUENTLY INTRODUCE COOLANT CHANNELS, FOLLOWED BY A HYBRID MDDM AM TO CLOSE-OUT THE UNFILLED COOLANT CHANNELS, AND CONTINUE TO BUILD THE STRUCTURAL JACKET AND MANIFOLDS USING NICKEL BASED SUPER ALLOYS (HOWEVER, AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL ALLOYS COULD BE EQUALLY APPLICABLE). MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE PHASE II PROJECT WILL FOCUS ON MATURING THE CAPABILITY TO BUILD NICKEL BASED SUPERALLOY (OR STAINLESS STEEL ALLOYS) NOZZLE LINERS, INCORPORATE AND CLOSE-OUT COOLANT CHANNELS, AND BUILD A STRUCTURAL JACKET WITH MANIFOLDS UTILIZING A HYBRID MDDM PROCESS. THE HYBRID MDDM PROCESS IS BASED ON ROBOTIC, CLOSEDLOOP CONTROLLED, WIRE FED METHODS USING EITHER A LASER OR PULSED-ARC TO BUILD THE LAYERS INTO THE DESIGN CONFIGURATION WITH FUNCTIONALITY. THE KEYSTONE MDDM PROCESS UTILIZES A UNIQUE SET OF IN-PROCESS SENSORS TO ENABLE THE CLOSED-LOOP PROCESS CONTROL OF THE TEMPERATURE AND HENCE THE PROPERTIES AND DIMENSIONS. THE INPROCESS SENSOR PACKAGE AND FEEDBACK MONITORING CAPABILITY ENABLES MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL OF THE KEY PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS FORMING THE MELT POOL DURING THE DEPOSIT AS WELL AS REAL TIME MONITORING TO ENSURE THE AM PROCESS REMAINS WITHIN DESIRED PROCESS CONTROL WINDOWS.