Session: 03-03 Metals: Path Development

Paper Number: 94946

94946 - Development of Adaptive Toolpaths for Repair and Cladding of Complex 3d Components by Laser Metal Deposition 

The paper envisages the development of specific toolpaths for additive repair and cladding of full 3D geometry components by the Laser Metal Deposition Additive Manufacturing technique.

Due to the essential difference between substractive and additive manufacturing approaches, the use of traditional substractive CAD-CAM programs is hardly suitable for a proper design and manufacturing of 3D AM’d components.

The main key points for the development of CAD-CAM tools specifically applicable to AM processes are the need for an intrinsic process stability in terms of coating and layer growth, the need for a well-tailored additive track overlapping over the whole selected surface area and the need for integration of specific features relative to the laser, addition material and surface properties monitoring and control.

The expected result of the full AM process based on the appropriate design tools is an efficient capability to meet not only the full 3D geometry according to the specified tolerances, but, very importantly, the microstructure specifications for the deposited material, avoiding the existence of critical defaults invalidating the fabrication or repair of the component. Moreover, the developed software must comply with the geometric specifications usual for manufacturing workstations, detecting preventively possible part-tool collisions with part and assuring an overall efficient manufacturing chain.

In view of all these considerations, the development of a conceptually new, automated and adaptive toolpath approach specific for LMD processes has been envisaged.

The developed software is based on mesh parametrization mathematical algorithms. The algorithms support constant overlap with integrated process parameters and laser variables. The specific areas that want to be coated or repaired can be selected, avoiding the need of selecting the whole surface area. This option enables the possibility of coating or repairing specific or critical areas.

For toolpath creation and calculation, geometry edges are selected and automatically extracted. Once the edge is selected and extracted; the specific LMD toolpaths can be calculated. After the toolpaths calculation, the toolpath data file is transferred to a post-processor for creating the Numerical Control code (NC).

With the aid of the developed tool, demonstrative validation AM sequences have been successfully developed with considerable practical advantage over traditional step-by-step full surface manufacturing methods, thus allowing the final design of the considered AM processes with increased quality and productivity.

Presenting Author: Igor Ortiz Ikergune A.I.E. Inzu Group

Presenting Author Biography: Igor Ortiz is a research and development project manager and researcher in Ikergune at Inzu Group. He has a Master of Science (MSc) in industrial engineering from Ecole CESI school of engineering and a second Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Barcelona (UB). He is sponsored by the company, for carrying out his PhD with the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) in laser metal deposition (LMD) toolpaths in correlation with fatigue analysis. He has more than 10 years of experience in product development, FEA tools and production plants, and has been involved in different projects in the automotive and aerospace industries. Currently, he leads automated software development tools for laser material processes (additive manufacturing, hardening, peening etc) and new robot cell for added value parts.

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