Five Axis Laser Welding for

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Five Axis Laser Welding for Repair of Turbine
Engine Components
NCMS/CTMA Symposium Track 1 Terry L.
VanderWert PRIMA North America, Inc.
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Outline

• Laser welding technology overview
• A History of success
• Applications and benefits
• Repair applications
• Potential benefits
• Barriers
• Potential projects
• Summary

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Laser Welding A History of Success
Automotive Body-in-White, Gear box,
Sensors Medical Pacemakers, Implants,
Surgical Instruments Electronics Hybrid
packages, Sensors, Transducers Military
Microwave devices, IR Sensors,
Gyroscope Aerospace Fuselage Panels,
Sensors Turbine Engine Components
70 m laser welded joint
High speed
Consistent quality
Negligible distortion
Minimal heat effect
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Application Repair of Turbine Engine Components
Growing Success in Aerospace

• Weld repair of worn blade tips, knife edge seals,
  rotary seals
• Weld new sections of blades, NGVs
• Weld sheet metal sections of combustors

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Growing Success in Aerospace
Application - Aircraft Fuselage Panel Stringer
Welding
Military jets 2,000/lb/100,000 hours

• Reduced weight
• 1 lb on the engine 5-10 lbs on the wing
  structure

Source Mendez, P. F., Eagar, T. W., New Trends
in Welding in the Aeronautic Industry, 2nd
Conference of New Manufacturing Trends, Bilbao,
Spain, November 19-20, 2002.
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Applications and Benefits for AircraftFuselage
Panel Stringer Welding

• Reduced weight (fuel savings)
• Eliminate fasteners and sealing material
• Modify designs to account for lower heat affected
  zone.
• Reduced costs Welded joint made in half the
  time of a riveted joint.
• Improved reliability
• No rivets to corrode or fatigue
• No moisture traps

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Potential Benefits of Laser Welding for Repair
Depots

• Flexible
• Applicable to a wide range of metals and alloys
  and to a wide range of components
• Sheet metal welding ( cutting drilling)
• Low distortion produces near net shape - means
  minimum post-weld machining and blending
  operations for repaired components

• Readily automated addresses growing shortage of
  skilled labor/welders

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Barriers to Laser Welding in Repair Applications

• Process not qualified
• Highly concentrated beam creates demand for good
  joint fit-up prior to and during welding.
• Penetration limited by laser power for autogenous
  welding processes.
• High capital equipment costs most often demands
  high utilization requires high volume
  applications or multiple applications

Source Industrial Laser Processes An
Introduction, AMT Laser Systems Product Group,
1999.
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Potential Projects

• Baffle plate welding
• Automated seam tracking/in-situ weld quality
  monitoring
• Hybrid laser/arc welding

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Baffle Plate Welding

• Objective Extend laser welding of baffle plates
  to repair applications.
• Challenges Tooling designed to address design
  (joint fit-up joint type that changes with
  location)
• Potential return
• Improved yield less scrap, rework
• Improved process repeatability
• Reduced cost

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Automated Seam Tracking -Weld Quality Monitoring

• Objective Integrate adaptive tools to reliably
  track the weld joint and monitor weld quality
• Challenges
• High speed machine motion
• Varying surface conditions
• Laser weld plume and ejection of material
• Potential return
• Greatly reduced set-up times - greater equipment
  utilization
• Higher reliability - reduced inspection costs
• Reduced tooling costs

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Hybrid Laser/Arc Welding

• Objective Adapt hybrid laser arc welding
  process to repair applications.
• Challenges Integration and control of the laser
  and arc welding equipment develop weld process.

• Potential return
• Greater flexibility wider range of applications
• Higher weld speeds
• Improved tolerance to joint fit-up

Source Moore, P.L., et. al., Development of
Laser, and Laser/Arc Hybrid Welding for Land
Pipeline Applications.
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SummaryLaser Welding - An Enabling Technology

• Laser welding is gaining traction as a means for
  aircraft and turbine engine manufacturers to
  reduce weight and production costs, and increase
  product quality.
• Consistent quality reduced scrap, rework,
  inspection.   
• Low distortion and high quality welds.
• Fast relative to conventional joining processes.
• Multi-axis laser welding systems with adaptive
  controls can provide maximum versatility and
  minimum set-up times.
• PRIMA North Americas experience in laser welding
  and integrated multi-axis laser systems can be
  valuable in adapting this technology to repair
  depots.