Lasform - building aircraft parts from powder

Lasform - building aircraft parts from powder

Keywords: Titanium, Components, Laser melting, Aerospace industry,AeroMet

A new process for producing high-tech titanium components for the aerospace industry, using laser forming technology and powdered titanium, could help to reduce production costs for prototype parts. Researchers at AeroMet in Minnesota, USA, have developed a process, called Lasform, that deposits powders of titanium alloys onto a substrate to build a "preform" shape that can be machined to a precise finish. The process can reduce production scrap by up to 80 per cent on conventional casting or machining methods and lowers the production time to weeks rather than months.

The Lasform process uses a high power carbon dioxide laser in an inert gas(usually Argon) chamber to melt together the substrate and the titanium powder being deposited. The part is built up using this process with the laser remaining fixed and the part itself being moved by computer numerical control(CNC) machinery. The CNC machine follows a tool path generated directly from a solid model produced by designers using standard computer-aided design (CAD)software. The new technique is ideal for producing prototype parts and small production runs but also has the potential for widespread use with exotic titanium alloys.

Producing monolithic titanium components offers many advantages to the aerospace industry including weight savings and reduced production costs. Lasform technology is currently being developed to cope with some of the more complex aerospace components and to reduce costs even further.

Further details are available from Materials World, Institute of Materials. Tel: +44 (0) 171 451 7395; Fax: +44 (0) 171 839 4534; E-mail: Andrew-Mclaughlin@materials.org.uk