Turbine Engine Efficiency Improvements by Additive Manufacturing

The Phase I research objective is to demonstrate the feasibility to Integrate thermodynamic and material property databases with Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) to design the chemistry and processing parameters for a new nickel-based AM superalloy, mitigate build defects, and maximize mechanical properties. (1) Integrate thermodynamic and material property databases and solidification modeling to develop optimal alloy chemistry. (2) Predict AM processing parameters for the new alloy using scaling relationships, databases for material properties, and legacy data for AM processing parameters for existing nickel-based superalloys. (3) Use ICME to predict parameters for Directed Energy Deposition (DED) repair of a triangular cross-section artifact (7.5x2.5 cm2 cross-section) with cooling channels. ICME will integrate thermal, residual stress, and solidification models and mitigate build defects, i.e., porosity, lack of fusion, and cracking. (4) Phase I will predict chemistry and process parameters for a new AM superalloy, mitigate build defects during hybrid DED repair of an artifact, and attain mechanical properties higher than IN718, closer to IN738. (5) Phase I Option will demonstrate a more complex repair using a second new AM superalloy.