Development of a novel system for in-situ repair of aeroengine airfoil via pulsed laser ablation

Cha, D.; Diaz, O.G.; Liao, Z.; Gilbert, D.; Axinte, D.; Kell, J.; Norton, A.; O’Key, M.; Osborne, M.R.; Main, D.

Abstract

A novel system for performing in-situ micro-machining of aero-engines for repair applications is proposed in this paper. Using Pulsed Laser Ablation (PLA) as material removal technique, surface cracks caused by foreign objects colliding with airfoils are removed by performing a layer-by-layer micro-machining in the area surrounding the damaged zone. Compared to conventional repair performed by micro-grinding, our invasive PLA system demonstrates a similar level of performance, evaluated from the point of view of fatigue strength in the high cycle (>107) regime. The follow-up fractographic and metallurgical analysis, indicated that although some microstructural characteristics are different between the repair methods, the incurred surface damage is limited in magnitude to a thin surface layer (<30 μm) and the influence on fatigue life is comparable. In the last section, a novel prototype system is presented which allows performing the PLA repair in-situ by use of a miniaturized laser scanning head coupled with a flexible mechanical deployment arm. The system has been successfully tested inside a Roll-Royce Trent jet engine; effectively this proves the possibility of performing in-situ laser micro-machining inside complex mechanical systems such as aero-engines, without the need for complex/expensive disassembly.

Citation

Cha, D., Diaz, O., Liao, Z., Gilbert, D., Axinte, D., Kell, J., Norton, A., O’Key, M., Osborne, M., & Main, D. (2020). Development of a novel system for in-situ repair of aeroengine airfoil via pulsed laser ablation. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 55, 126-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2020.03.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 2, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 10, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Deposit Date: May 11, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Manufacturing Systems
• Print ISSN: 0278-6125
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 55
• Pages: 126-131
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2020.03.001
• Keywords: Control and Systems Engineering; Hardware and Architecture; Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; Software
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4139467
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278612520300340
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Development of a novel system for in-situ repair of aeroengine airfoil via pulsed laser ablation; Journal Title: Journal of Manufacturing Systems; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2020.03.001; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2020 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.