An ageing aircraft fleet and the recent global recession have contributed to the increasing cost of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. An aircraft's wings, engines and fuselage are susceptible to damage both on ground (by service and maintenance equipment and fixtures) and in the air (by foreign objects, birds, lightning strikes etc). Although scheduled maintenance checks are performed throughout the lifecycle of an aircraft, defects can occur at any time and affect the performance of the aircraft. Consequently, unscheduled maintenance becomes necessary to replace defective components and ensure safety, reliability and airworthiness, and as each defect is different, unique solutions are required for each one.

Direct energy deposition (DED) systems are a very flexible type of additive manufacture (AM). They show great potential for the cost-effective and efficient repair / re-manufacture of aerospace components such as turbine blades and landing gears. Their use will allow damaged components can be repaired (on-demand) and material lost in service to be re-deposited to restore the component to its original shape. This would reduce repair lead times, costs, and material waste and extend the service life of damaged or worn components as damaged components could be quickly repaired rather than scrapped.

The Additive Manufacturing Optimisation and Simulation (AMOS) project is working with a number of different AM processes and material so as to assess their use for repair. The objectives of the project are to:

1. Study the process accuracy, repeatability, limitations and material integrity of a number of different direct energy deposition (DED) systems using a number of materials;
2. Develop an effective system to generate the repair geometry;
3. Develop accurate models to simulate the different deposition processes;
4. Develop a repair process planning module;
5. Develop a method to optimise component design for additive repair;
6. Determine the data necessary for qualification of DED technologies for repair and remanufacture;

AMOS has developed a video demonstrating these principles through the medium of chocolate.

Access free vocational training in additive manufacture, courtesy of 3DPRISM. This course was developed during a 27 month project funded through ERASMUS+ and coordinated by the AMRC,University of Sheffield in partnership with Florida Universitaria, CECIMO, Exelia and Cimea.