Abstract Scope |
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) regularly maintains its various aircrafts in its fleet. Over the years maintaining the old platforms has become more challenging due to a low availability of procurement of parts and lack of ability to repair and manufacture parts by conventional methods.
Presently, there is no internationally recognized approval process standardization and certification of additively manufactured parts; therefore, there was a need to develop a methodology that would ensure the parts’ reliability over time.
The manufacturing process begins with determining the desired mechanical and environmental properties. Accordingly, a proofing process including the quantity of parts, specimens and exact test procedures is written. A series of experiments is then needed to be performed in order to confirm these properties.
The first printed part was a titanium firewall angle for a Sikorsky UH-60L, printed via electron-beam melting technology. It is the first metal printed part that has been used in flight by Israel on manned aircraft in 2019. In this structural part the following tests were performed: tensile, surface roughness, metallurgical tests, dimensional 3D scans and micro-CT scans. The experiments were done for the printed raw material samples and for samples cut from completed part as well.
The second part was an aluminum arc for engine cover for a Sikorsky CH-53D, printed via selective laser melting technology. This structural part had a more complex approval process due to its critical location. The approval process included additional tests such as corrosion resistance and vibrational tests.
This presentation presents the methodology for approval and certification of metal additively manufactured parts for the aircrafts. Today, we can confidently say that the IAF has a regulated and reliable approval process for structural parts, which provide a strong basis for approving procedure and experiments for dynamical and critical parts.
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