Micro abrasive waterjetting of an aerospace component in an additive manufactured aero engine alloy

Important results from the project

To enable non-thermal precision cutting of complex geometries, a 5-axis manipulation of the cutting system has been developed and associated software for programming and method for producing material data has been evaluated. Surface integrity and geometry of an aircraft engine component have been analyzed. Also milling with the micro abrasive waterjet has been tested for roughing. The project can in the long run lead to economic and quality benefits in the manufacture of lightweight products in jet engines. A commercial product based on this development has been launched.

Expected long term effects

** Denna text är maskinöversatt ** The project has shown that micro abrasive waterjet cutting with the help of five-axis average error compensation can reach tolerances close to those obtained in wire erosion. Geometrically speaking, there is a good potential to use micro abrasive waterjet cutting instead of wire erosion for jet engine components and enjoy the benefits of non-thermal machining.

Approach and implementation

In initial experiments with three-axis cutting, the process errors have been mapped and a strategy to compensate for them has been developed. This has required that the cutting beam can be angled, which meant that the machine had to be supplemented with a five-axis configuration. After development of a five-axis manipulator, cutting has been possible with average error compensation. For this, a CAD / CAM software has been used successfully. The section geometry has been verified and the surface integrity has been studied for a component from an aircraft engine.