For service parts, production runs are ‘on demand’, and managing the inventory for components or the tooling is expensive. Additive manufacturing (AM) processes lend themselves to this application as their key strength is the ability to fabricate components with no tooling or fixtures. However, several AM processes require significant post processing to remove support materials as well as generate the required surface finishes and feature tolerances. The main purpose of this research is to determine whether a directed energy deposition (DED) AM solution can be used to manufacture selected components that are presently cast, machined, or forged using hybrid manufacturing build solutions, where machining operations are introduced as required. Select DED AM processes are used to fabricate a near net shape, and either final machining or interspersed machining operations are included. A product-process classification schema is introduced to cluster similar build strategies. This provides the background for the decomposition approaches and the process planning strategies. The build times and material usage are included and component redesign is discussed to facilitate the manufacturing process and optimize the design. This is ongoing research and, in future work, an analysis of the heat maps and the resulting mechanical and physical properties will be evaluated for these components.
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