Industry challenges are driving manufacturers to focus on improving efficiency, optimizing production and quality, and reducing unplanned downtime. Leveraging data and analytics technologies, such as industrial artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics, can transform a company’s assets and systems by capturing data more accurately from different sources to increase business insights and strengthen predictive capabilities.

It’s tempting to focus on immediate needs – meeting the growing or shrinking demand for products. However, those decisions will have a long-term impact on the brand and ultimately your competitive position, so it’s critical to make those decisions with as much insight as possible.

Industrial AI, predictive analytics, and machine learning (ML) are critical in modeling the actions and consequences in a way that’s always valuable. It’s important to understand an operation and be able to break it down granularly to take productive action that’ll make a difference.

There are many benefits to deploying solutions that help use the power of Industrial AI in your operation. By breaking down information and data silos, aerospace manufacturers can tap into previously unused or under-utilized data, speeding operations and producing finished products and parts faster and with greater precision. Tracking the performance and health of equipment optimizes maintenance and safety on the shop floor, making critical manufacturing assets more reliable and available for use. Production lines are up and running and end production is increased and reliable.

Speeding production also allows improved on-time delivery performance, quicker response to late state changes, clearer views of work-in-progress orders, and shortened production cycles.

With a lack of real-time information from the shop floor to the C-suite, it can be difficult to see critical information in time to accommodate market shifts or customer demands. By implementing effective industrial applications with AI and analytics technologies, shop-floor personnel gain deep visibility into complex work processes enabling more data-driven insights along with tighter control of production quality, staffing, and predictive maintenance scheduling.

Graphics courtesy of GE Digital

Getting started

There are barriers and risks to expanding and using digital touchpoints.

The first hurdle is understanding business processes that could be improved using data. Determine how that data is used in the current process and how that process would be modified to get improved business results. Understanding the process tells you the data you need, where to get it, the AI models used to make the decision of whether to change the process, and justification for that decision.

Another key hurdle is acceptance of AI’s output. Many AI systems are black boxes in which the logic of their output cannot be readily understood by the layperson. It’s important to construct AI models that correspond to physical models.

Keep in mind that scale and implementation may not be easy at first, but as more industrial assets are digitized, the opportunity to use data to improve business processes and business value grows exponentially.

In addition, companies often deal with obsolete systems, multiple systems on the floor, low machine connectivity, and the inability to analyze end-to-end data sets.

With data that’s already available, teams don’t need to be in a constant state of reactivity. Combine data across industrial data sources to rapidly identify problems, discover root causes, predict future performance, and automate actions to continuously improve quality, utilization, productivity, safety, and delivery of operations.

For example, to improve quality, you can automatically import process-relevant data from various sources and apply AI/ML models to predict quality before and during production runs – improving quality while reducing waste and costs.

Graphics courtesy of GE Digital

Drive continuous improvement

Approximately 70% of companies worldwide know they need to implement industrial analytics to remain competitive. With ML and analytics, aerospace manufacturers can capitalize on the Internet of Things (IoT) opportunity, optimize operations, and generate greater profitability.

Additionally, engaging in the latest analytics technologies also helps attract and retain the best talent. Today’s digital plant and its mobile, connected workforce accelerate and sustain continuous improvement to drive greater productivity and efficiency.

The journey to success with ML and analytics doesn’t mean engineers and shop floor workers must become data scientists. Seamless connectivity, rich visualization, and predictive analytics enable engineers to analyze operating scenarios, quantifying the impact operational changes will have on key performance metrics and identifying causes for performance variation.

A comprehensive analytic solution-development environment provides visual analytic building blocks to build and test calculations, predictive analytics, and real-time optimization and control solutions with connectivity to real-time and historical data sources and drag-and-drop access to rich functional libraries.

The solution-development environment can provide visual analytic building blocks, allowing users to build and test calculations, predictive analytics, and real-time optimization and control. Solutions are enhanced with real-time and historical data sources and drag-and drop access to rich functional libraries. Solutions are saved as reusable templates for easy deployment to similar assets or process units and permanently deployed into production.

To support the full IoT value journey, look for capabilities from simple calculations to predictive ML models to real-time optimization and advanced-control algorithms. The best solutions provide rapid wizard-driven data mining for engineers for fast time-to-insight; an easy visual drag-and-drop environment for subject matter experts and engineers; and analytic solution templates without programming for simple calculations, data cleaning, math, statistics, ML models, real-time optimization, and advanced process control. These solutions can go a long way to deploy AI for efficiency improvements.

GE Digital

GE Digital is a partner member of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA). For more information, visit the company profile on the Industrial Automation Exchange.

About the author: Cobus van Heerden is senior product manager, analytics and machine learning at GE Digital. He can be reached at cobus.vanheerden@ge.com.

Photo credit Portescap

Two new online tools are now available to streamline the process of evaluating and buying miniature motors.

MotionCompass: Users input operating points such as torque, speed, and voltage, along with key application parameters and gearbox and position feedback requirements. MotionCompass then generates a list of motor recommendations that users can prioritize in ascending or descending order according to their speed, efficiency, power, or current needs. It also immediately displays prices and availability so users can proceed to the eStore, confirm the order quantity, and complete their purchase.

eStore: Portescap customers can browse or search for off-the-shelf products to fit desired configuration, environment, or envelope. When a customer selects a motor, they can download its specifications as well as 2D drawings and 3D CAD models, check its availability and, if the product isn’t available for immediate shipment, request a quote. Users can also customize a motor for a hard-to-satisfy application by reviewing options for gearheads and encoders. And checkouts are even faster with an e-store account.

These online tools offer designers a resource to guide motor selection decisions throughout product development, allowing design iterations and implementing any changes based on off-the-shelf motor options. Customers will also be able to test designs in a virtual setting, saving time and helping get end products to market faster.

Portescap

Stretch forming dies are unique to each section of an aircraft’s fuselage. Since many are needed, the sheer volume of dies can pose a storage problem, with stacks of heavy dies taking up valuable space and requiring much labor to move, organize, and mount on the press.

Additive manufacturing (AM) – 3D printing – offers a solution.

Akron, Ohio-based Additive Engineering Solutions (AES) LLC has applied its ability to 3D print large-size composites to create lighter stretch forming dies with modular, interchangeable components for Spirit AeroSystems.

We recently asked Spirit AerosSystems’ Advanced Product Development & Research Engineer Matthew Guile and AES Vice President & Co-Founder Andrew Bader to share some details about the project.

Aerospace Manufacturing and Design (AM&D): How is the tooling used?
Matt Guile (MG): The tool is used as a die for stretch forming body frames. Body frames are the ribs of a fuselage and are found about every 20". A stretch press grips an aluminum extrusion and plastically deforms it across a die. This die matches the contour of the fuselage at a given location and gives the frame the shape it needs. AM&D: What prompted the need for a composite insert? MG: Despite the shape of the fuselage only changing slightly every 20", a unique die is needed to form that contour. The result is a parking lot full of hard tools. Along with the high cost of these dies, there’s no easy way to store, transport, and get them on and off the stretch press. These issues are compounded as production rates increase. Research and development (R&D) saw an opportunity to develop a modular tooling method to remedy these issues. For the material, composite thermoplastics have an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, which allowed us to design smaller, lightweight tools.

AM&D: How is the new solution like or different from stretching on a metal tool?
MG: The unique aspect of a stretch form tool is the forming surface, which the aluminum extrusion is stretched across. The rest of the tool is mostly the same from die to die. A traditional stretch form die is a bulky monolithic tool with one forming surface. Alternatively, the modular tooling approach has an interchangeable forming surface. With our modular tool, a forming insert is mated to a universal base to make up a complete tool. The forming insert is a lightweight, smaller component that features the forming surface. The universal base stays mounted on the stretch press and provides rigidity and alignment for the forming insert. Instead of changing the entire die, the forming insert is simply changed out. Reducing the weight of the insert eliminates the use of forklifts and overhead cranes. Reducing its size also minimizes the storage footprint. Additionally, large format AM provides the means to produce a forming insert faster and less expensively than any other method.

AM&D: What were the origins of the project?
MG: Spirit tried before to find a better tooling strategy for this challenge. However, previous efforts were either cost prohibitive or impractical to implement. The idea of a modular tool came to mind in 2018 as large-format AM was becoming further developed and increasingly popular.

AM&D: What makes this project a good fit for large format AM?
Andrew Bader (AB): The shape and design of the tool was perfect for large format additive manufacturing (LFAM) because of its large radius or half-moon shape. Determining whether something is a good fit for LFAM depends on the geometry of what we need to print. Some designs that are very flat in nature without a lot of curvature or deep projections usually aren’t the best fit for LFAM. While we still may be able to physically print it, it usually won’t make economic sense if you can simply buy something such as 3" thick aluminum plate stock and machine it quickly. In this case, however, to get a traditional tool into a half-moon shape you can bump-form thick metal to a near-net shape and machine it, but this process is expensive and not a lot of people do it. Or, you have to buy a large, rectangular block of material and machine away a lot of that material. With LFAM, we could print the shape to near-net dimensions, which made our tool manufacturing process much more efficient, faster, and with a lot less waste involved.

AM&D: Was this the first time AES worked with Spirit?
AB: AES has been working with Spirit since 2017 and has completed about a half-dozen different style tooling projects.

AM&D: What specs did the tooling have to meet?
MG: The design objectives were to create a forming insert light enough so that two mechanics can manipulate it, quickly mate it to the universal base, and form a good part under standard conditions. Spirit’s process modeling team performed a computer simulation of the forming process and determined the insert needed to withstand loads of more than 5,000psi. The required dimensional tolerance was ±0.010" across the full insert, which was 144" (12ft) in its longest dimension.

AM&D: Which company designed the tool?
MG: Spirit designed the end-use tool, while AES was responsible for a near-net as-printed design that would be later machined down to the final geometry. (Near-net print is shown on the magazine’s cover photo.) Composite thermoplastics have a high strength to weight ratio, which allows the insert to be as light as possible. An overhead crane is no longer needed to change out dies, increasing shop efficiency. The storage footprint for tooling is minimized also. AB: The material used in the tool is fiber-filled polycarbonate. Spirit provided AES the tool design with some input from AES, but we had to make a special as-printed design to 3D print it to a near-net shape that would yield the most successful print for machining.

AM&D: How many parts per tool can be made?
MG: The fatigue life of the tool is still being evaluated. Initial forming trials successfully stretched a low-volume run of body frames prior to heat treatment, where the aluminum was in a soft, ductile state. Further trials stretched a full production run of 40 frames after heat treatment, where the aluminum was significantly harder and the load on the tool significantly higher. The tool was scanned before and after the trials. No significant deformation or wear was observed.

AM&D: These molds are composite being used to form aluminum parts – it’s unusual to form metal with plastic, correct?
AB: This project is a great example of using 3D printed thermoplastic tooling to provide a solution that wouldn’t have worked well through traditional manufacturing. First, we’re using LFAM to make a near-net tool off the printer, which creates a faster and more efficient tool-making process, with better economics and lead time than traditional tooling processes. Second, we’re demonstrating the usefulness and robustness of thermoplastics as a viable tooling material choice. Another benefit is the reduced weight. AM&D: Will Spirit try to leverage this new technology in other areas? MG: Aerospace manufacturing is notorious for high quantities of complex and large tools. Spirit’s Research and Technology team has identified right life tooling as a distinctive capability that Spirit believes will define the aircraft of tomorrow. AM is critical to solving tooling challenges for commercial and defense programs of the future.

Additive Engineering Solutions LLC

Spirit AeroSystems

About the author: Eric Brothers is senior editor of AM&D. He can be reached at 216.393.0228 or ebrothers@gie.net.

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has grown to become a critical and innovating strategic tool for the aerospace and defense (A&D) sectors, due in large part to developments in materials science. Entering into this new wave, materials are now designed for the AM process and repeatability, compared to previous materials intended for forging or casting. These advanced materials can meet customer requirements and allow for more design freedom and complex geometries. One company focused on further developing these materials to meet rigid design criteria and overcome today’s aerospace challenges is Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI).

ATI creates new specialty materials for 3D printing high-performance aero engine and airframe structures. “What we’ve found is that, by looking at these alloys and applying them to additive manufacturing, they actually solve a lot of the problems,” says Brian Morrison, director, AM at ATI. “As we listen to our customers, they’re often concerned that metal alloys such as titanium 6-4 [Ti-6Al-4V] create way too much residual stress. Therefore, building parts with it that are dimensionally tolerant can be challenging. Ti-6Al-4V doesn’t always have the strength requirements that customers need for their application.”

To overcome these barriers, the specialty materials company has shifted its focus and is developing Titan 23, a high-strength titanium alloy. Titan 23 has higher strength capability than Ti-6Al-4V, with similar elongation and capabilities that solve common problems such as high residual stress. While developing this material, ATI found that its residual stresses are much lower, meaning the dimensional accuracy of a finished part is much closer to the computer-aided design (CAD) model.

Titan 23 provides the necessary dimensional tolerance and strength requirements when developing complex engine parts or structural parts for aircraft.

Highlighting more of the alloy’s benefits, Richard Merlino, senior director of AM at ATI, goes on to explain, “In higher temperature situations, it does have slightly better temperature resistance. For example, if the designer is just out of the temperature regime of Ti-6Al-4V and is forced to transition to nickel, which is dramatically heavier, this might give that little extra boost that allows you to use titanium materials, which give you the required weight savings and the same temperature resistance.”

The Titan 23 alloy has increased alpha and beta stabilizer content which allows it to improve room temperature strength, thick section hardenability, and fatigue life.

Further alloy advantages

Another alloy family, titanium aluminide, is very hard to process through traditional means, such as casting or machining. Through AM however, titanium aluminide is being used for low pressure turbine blades and next-generation jet engines. They are replacing what would have been nickel castings to deliver significant weight savings.

These alloys offer further benefits compared to traditional alloys and provide the flexibility to design more complex shapes than what’s possible with traditional manufacturing. According to Merlino, materials with minimal distortion can maintain complex geometries. Ultimately, it results in a better-performing part because it either provides the same performance with less weight, or in a fluid flow application, offers increased fluid flow with possibly lower pressures.

“These benefits are definitely recognizable, so that if an alloy gives more flexibility in printing, which allows the designer to get more creative on the design, that should allow for better performance,” Merlino adds.

Impact on A&D industries

There are several environmental, financial, and security advantages of using AM in the A&D industries, implying how these materials could also propel the industries forward.

Due to the big reduction in material used in AM versus traditional manufacturing, users will see immediate benefits.

“For example, subtractively processing 20 lb of stock to a 1 lb part. Now, for a 1 lb part, we might use 1.2 lb of material in AM; you’re going to see benefits,” Morrison explains. “Another noticeable impact in aerospace is that AM parts are going into service for potentially 20 years plus.”

For commercial aircraft, weight savings will be evident throughout its entire 20-year life cycle. This will reduce carbon emissions, too. Morrison and Merlino say for designers to truly unleash the power of AM, they must get more comfortable with the technology to design enough performance into the product that AM makes sense financially. AM is still not as fast as casting or machining, so designers will have to make parts with enough complexity to justify using it. AM’s value is growing as people get more comfortable with it and recognize its capabilities.

AM is also helping to advance security within the Department of Defense (DOD), with more tools being developed for IT and infrastructure that allow companies (such as ATI) to produce a part and give the military the confidence that it was produced according to specifications. This is achieved through remote monitoring and guaranteeing that the model was printed correctly on the machine.

“You’re going to become more confident that we printed the right part, and we have validation in our facility and by the customer that shows it was done correctly,” Morrison adds.

Another key focus on the defense side for AM is sustainability. Being able to produce parts on-demand to keep warfighters in the battle is a major advantage. For example, if aging platforms need replacement parts, you can use the strength of AM if the supply chain has gone out of business, Morrison adds.

Looking toward the future of AM and developments in materials science, Morrison and Merlino predict even more possibilities. They believe that as everyone becomes more comfortable with the process, we’re also going to see new material development, which will unleash the ability to produce more complex parts, use more complex alloys, and open new opportunities for AM.

ATI (Allegheny Technologies Inc.)

About the author: Michelle Jacobson is the assistant editor of AM&D. She can be reached at 216.393.0323 or mjacobson@gie.net.

Thousands of aircraft components are critical to consistent, safe operation. Couplings, locking brackets, valves, sling mounts, hubs, and special fasteners are can’t-fail parts. To make them, manufacturers need the best materials with the best processes.

Although casting has been a choice for affordable, quick, and complex parts, forging is a superior process when forming parts that can’t fail. Forging provides numerous benefits for service life and performance in parts subject to extreme stresses and adverse environments.

Metal forming basics

Casting includes heating metal beyond its melting point, pouring it into a mold, sealing it, and letting it cool and set in place. Forging heats metal to less than its melting temperature into a state where it is pliable and soft and can deform easily, but it doesn’t begin to flow. Then, large presses, using extreme pressures, force the metal to form around a special plate called a die in a process called die forging. There are other forging processes, but die forging is the primary method for forming complex shapes in aerospace parts.

Research at the Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering departments at the University of Toledo1 found forged parts have:

• 26% higher tensile strength – parts can suffer greater pulling stresses; suitable for mount, sling hanging
• 37% higher fatigue strength – greater length of service for forged parts
• 44% greater yield strength – parts can suffer greater stresses before deforming
• Greater deformation area before failure – part will deform more before failing completely

Forging benefits

How and why does the forging process create better and longer-lasting parts, and why are forged aerospace parts superior?

Porosity – Cast parts have higher porosity, the presence of empty spaces within a part, which can appear as small bubbles or tiny jagged voids. Because forging starts with extruded material (bar or shape) and further forms the basic raw material shape into near-net finish part geometry, pores have fewer opportunities to form. Porosity is formed through two main methods: trapped gases and shrinkage voids. During a casting, gases may become trapped if the seal is not completely perfect. These gases will form small, smooth bubbles inside the part, usually close to the surface. Shrinkage porosity occurs when the part cools unevenly, and as certain parts solidify and condense, other portions of the internal part structure have less material to fill the space. Thus, the structure will show small, jagged voids throughout.

Porosity is an unavoidable by-product of casting, although certain methods can be used to minimize it. In forging, the metal isn’t melted, eliminating the opportunity for gas porosity, thereby making forged aerospace parts resistant to failure modes and defects porosity can cause.

Interlocked grain structure – Forged parts have a stronger interlocked grain structure. All metals form a crystalline structure when they cool, but that structure can be deformed quite drastically, which causes the grains to bind and interlock in a more complex pattern. The complex structures produced through deformation energy allows simple aluminum parts to approach the powerful properties of complex alloys such as Inconel. This improved metallurgy translates to greater performance, longer-lasting pieces, and greater fatigue properties. In addition, these properties can be achieved with significantly cheaper base materials. The accessibility of cheaper materials also bypasses the necessity of researching exact alloy compositions and complex testing procedures.

Post-forming processes – Are more effective and simpler with forgings. Forged, near-net shape parts are less expensive to machine because the forgings are made with tighter tolerances. It’s common to reduce machine cycle time by 50% compared to a billet process. Forged material tends to be less abrasive than cast surfaces and will also extend tool life. Forged parts will also have a smoother surface, which makes coatings and paints bind more evenly and cleanly to the part’s surface. Castings often must be smoothed before a coating can be properly applied, which increases time and cost.

Summary

Forging creates a reliable, uniform, and stronger part, with faster turnaround at an affordable price. Full-service forging shops offer design and manufacturing expertise to create forged aerospace parts to exact specifications. A one-stop-forge-shop can perform in-house heat treatment and has a great network of sub-contractor shops for other post-forging processes. A top-tier forging shop will have everything needed to deliver aerospace parts recognized for their quality and precision craftsmanship.

Anchor Harvey

About the author: Kerry Kubatzke is the lead sales manager of aluminum forging company Anchor Harvey, Freeport, Illinois. He can be reached at 888.367.4464 or kkubatzke@anchorharvey.com.

1. “Fatigue Performance Comparison and Life Prediction of Forged Steel and Ductile Cast Iron Crankshafts”