A Methodology to Evaluate the Reliability Impact of the Replacement of Welded Components by Additive Manufacturing Spare Parts

Abstract

This article shows a method for inspection scheduling of structures made by additive manufacturing, derived from reliability function evaluations and overhaul inspection findings. The routine was an adaption of an existing method developed by the authors for welded components; in this latter case, the routine used a stochastic defect-propagation analysis for pores and lack of fusion defects of additive manufacturing process, instead of the weld liquation crack. In addition, the authors modified the specific stress-intensity factor for welded components to consider additive manufacturing-related material property variability, defect distributions, flaw-inspection capabilities, and component geometry. The proposed routine evaluated the failure rate and inspection intervals using the first-order reliability method (FORM + Fracture) to alleviate the computational cost of probabilistic defect-propagation analysis. The proposed method is one of the first applying reliability concepts to additive manufacturing (AM) components. This is an important milestone, since in 10 years, additive manufacturing is to be used for 30% of the components in aeroengines. This paper presents an example comparing the reliability and cost of a jet engine, with components either made by additive manufacturing or welded parts; in the process, the reliability AM-key features are found, and overhaul schedules of an airplane fleet made with AM components are defined. The simplicity and performance demonstrated in the comparison make the proposed method a powerful engineering tool for additive manufacturing assessment in aeronautics.

Statistical Analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis to Improve the Efficiency of Manufacturing Process of Electrical Conductors

“…Successful cases: In accordance with [6], proposed rapid modeling and optimization of manufacturing processes based on DOE. In [7] is described how processes can be optimized efficiently and how DOE findings may be applied to scale-up. Others [8], used the DOE to improve the manufacturing results in engines.…”

“…With the use and application of statistical analysis, reductions in manufacturing, inspection, materials or methods costs can be achieved [43]. The concept of additive manufacturing [7], will be very useful for the optimization of processes in all types of components.…”

“…Taking into consideration [5], applied the DOE in a spot welding process to identify the key parameters of the process, which influence the tensile strength of welded joints. Also, DOE had been employed successfully en R&R analysis [6], surface response analysis [7] and, algorithm analysis [8]. There have been many cases of successful application of the DOE in all types of production processes.…”

YOLOv3-Lite: A Lightweight Crack Detection Network for Aircraft Structure Based on Depthwise Separable Convolutions

“…Kadam et al [4] used a self-diagnosis technique to detect the cracking and de-bonding of the permanently embedded lead zirconate titanate (PZT). Cracks are reported as key in [5], which use the first-order reliability method (FORM + Fracture) to alleviate the computational cost of probabilistic defect-propagation analysis [6][7][8][9][10], which is commonly used to detect cracks using a special hardware device.…”

Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Scheduling Optimization in the Context of Industrie 4.0

“…Adopting reliability methods are one of the most interesting aspects to be considered. The works of [2,3] proposed a novel model for inspection scheduling of welded components as well as additive manufacturing parts. This marks a clear pathway of interest in the scientific community that evolves to the industrial domain in enhancements of products and processes.…”