Additive manufacturing improves large naval propeller blade design
Extending high value components performances with Additive Manufacturing: application to naval applications
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Summary
Making big metal parts like ship propellers is hard with traditional methods because of shape limits and weight. The authors explain how a special 3D printing method called Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) lets them build large, hollow metal parts layer by layer. This approach can create lighter parts without losing strength. They demonstrated this by making a 1.5-meter-high hollow propeller blade for naval use in a lab.
What this means in practice
- •For naval engineers: Build large, hollow metal components like propeller blades with reduced weight and maintained strength using WAAM for ships and submarines.
- •For aerospace manufacturers: Manufacture large, complex hollow metal parts with improved performance for aircraft components using WAAM's layering capability.
Authors
Matthieu Rauch, Gatien Pechet, Jean Yves Hascoet, Guillaume Ruckert
Abstract
Additive Manufacturing (AM), consists of depositing material in successive layers to obtain the desired part. The parts produced by AM can thus adopt geometries inaccessible by conventional manufacturing means, for example hollow or lattice structures which considerably reduce their weight while keeping or even improving their mechanical properties. Among the many existing processes, Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is particularly well suited to the manufacture of large metallic parts. It is characterized by a supply of heat in the form of an electric arc (produced by a welding generator) and a supply of material in the form of wire. This paper will discuss the impact of additive manufacturing to enhance the performances of high value components, based on naval application: the manufacturing of a hollow propeller blade demonstrator of 1.5 m high realized in the laboratory.