GE has repeatedly said that one of the company's strong suits was material development. With all their investment in AM over the years I have to think that this is something being developed in-house. More for me to dig into.
NANONTUN3D will take advantage of the possibilities of Additive Manufacturing (AM) together with the development of a specially tailored Ti- based nano-additived material to achieve dramatic improvements in structural parts of aero, space, mobility, and equipment sectors, reaching expected savings between 40% and 50% of material in critical applications. Inherent benefits of AM will be kept (decrease in throughput times, tool-less production, high buy-to–fly-run ratios, etc.).
By adding nano-particles (NPs) to metal matrixes, the whole life cycle of the NANOTUN3D material has been designed with AM processability in mind: safety and handling issues, processing in well-known AM technologies, postprocessing and eventual certification issues are dealt with, and innovative core-shell treatment of the NPs that suits the Ti matrix and produces Ti64-like powder ready to be AM processed. A whole Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management system will also be developed, as well as all the protocols to start qualification/certification of material and process.
* Develop a raw material (metal powder) to be processed by additive manufacturing techniques with powder bed fusion –selective laser melting (SLM) and electron beam melting (EBM)- based on a nanomodified Ti6Al4V alloy with enhanced structural performance versus standard alloy (tensile properties 30-40% better; hardness, fatigue and wear properties enhanced 20-30%, and high temperature properties enhanced 15-25%, with no weight penalty).
* Define a “core-shell” concept and process for embedding ceramic NPs in the Ti6Al4V matrix: *Synthesis and manufacturing methods for producing the “core-shells” both in lab and industrial pilot scale. *Two manufacturing routes for the NANOTUN3D material, based on Gas atomization (GA) and EIGA. These routes will, respectively re-design and simulate the gas injection system (DIE) for simultaneous powder and core-shells injection, and develop a mix/consolidation process towards a uniformly dispersed bar/ingot on the EIGA process.
* Develop the process parameters settings for processing the new nanomodified Ti6Al4V by SLM and EBM, as well as the hardware modifications needed. A reusability strategy of the NANOTUN3D powder for both SLM and EBM will also be defined.
* Assess postprocesses needed by the AM manufactured NANOTUN3D part: surface and heat treatments applied to improve roughness, fatigue behaviour and to reduce residual stresses and distortions of the manufactured parts, as well as machining conditions.
* Develop a qualification approach of material and transformation processes developed along the full value stream for the SLM and EBM processed NANOTUN3D material.
* Implement a Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management system that will deal with the safety risks associated with the use of nanoparticles along the value stream, and will define a reliable workflow of the manufacturing, handling and processing of the Ti-based nano-additived material, from core-shell production to final part.
* Validate a supply chain for the NANOTUN3D workflow.
* Apply the new nanomodified Ti6Al4V processed by SLM and EBM, the production workflow and the HSE management system in two “virtual demonstrators” from industrial sectors.