Optomec
Optomec has been awarded a $500,000 process development contract by the Air Force Sustainment Center for the ‘additive repair’ of jet engine components used in the F-15 and F-16 fighters.
The company will harness its LENS metal additive manufacturing method based on powder-fed Directed Energy Deposition and combine it with advanced vision and distortion compensation software, Controlled Atmosphere processing and batch automation using oxygen-free material handling.
With this group of technologies, Optomec will focus on developing optimised process parameters and procedures to repair turbine blades made from both titanium and nickel-based superalloys. This effort will see printable ‘recipes’ and ‘libraries’ implemented in conjunction with the delivery of an automated Turbine Blade Repair machine, with ROI projections of 184% and a payback period of less than two years. This, the Air Force believes, could save ‘many millions of dollars’ in maintaining its fleet of more than 5,000 aircraft, which have an average age of 28 years.
Optomec’s DED additive manufacturing technology has been used to refurbish more than 10 million turbine blades, per the company, and this contract will extend its dealings with the military after it was awarded a $1m US Air Force contract last year.
“The turbine industry has already widely adopted Optomec’s automated DED solution for high volume nickel alloy repair of aviation parts; meanwhile Optomec has worked out the process recipes for titanium repair,” commented Jamie Hanson, VP of Business Development at Optomec. “This solution essentially takes Optomec’s titanium repair process to high volume levels where it will have a major impact on lowering maintenance costs as engine OEMs use more and more titanium.”
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