ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING: A GROWING PARADIGM FOR ADVANCING SPACE MATERIALS
- Paper number
IAC-16,C2,9,1,x35848
- Author
Dr. Priti Wanjara, NRC Institute for Biodiagnostics, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Javad Gholipour, National Research Council, Canada
- Year
2016
- Abstract
Considered as an enabling technology for future missions, electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM) deposits metallic materials, using a wire feedstock through a layer by layer process to form near net shape components, within a vacuum operational environment that resembles in-space conditions. Specific advantages of the EBAM process are the relatively large build envelop – that becomes infinite for in-space production – combined with the high material efficiency (nearly 100% or practically zero waste) and high bulk material deposition rates (reaching over 700 mm3/s). Work on the EBAM process at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has strived to address the different underlying challenges presently facing the global scientific and research communities for introducing, producing and qualifying materials and structures fabricated through an additive approach, as compared to a subtractive methodology. In particular, to address poor surface finish – a recognized weakness of the EBAM process – process development was undertaken with a target of optimizing/maximizing a combination of characteristics, including surface finish, deposition rate and full density (verified through 3D rendering with x-ray micro computed tomography). This paper highlights the advancements in the EBAM technology for depositing a titanium alloy and a nickel-based superalloy – two important space grades – with these criteria that also showed excellent prospective for minimizing distortion, which was measured using a non-contact 3D digital image correlation system.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-16,C2,9,1,x35848.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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