Improved Manufacturing Technologies for Aircraft Engines

Critical components for aircraft engines are forcing increasing demands for higher accuracy, advanced materials and smaller features to enable advanced designs. The proposed effort will examine the ability of short pulse laser machining to machine aerospace materials at an acceptable throughput rate with minimal subsurface damage. Materials to be investigated will include commonly used aerospace materials, such as high-nickel alloys, single-crystal material and metallic substrates with a thermal barrier coating. Materials currently being considered for future generation aerospace engines will also be investigated, including ceramic materials. Phase I will establish guidelines for the machinability of a variety of current and future generation aerospace materials, quantify the level of damage caused by short pulse laser machining, establish beam manipulation methods best suited for aerospace geometry requirements and produce an economic model that will define cost savings for selected aerospace components.