In the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies for Aerospace Sustainment workshop, students will learn about the growing world of aerospace sustainment. As commercial and military aircrafts alike are flying much longer than they were ever intended to, methodologies and technologies have been developed to extend the lives of these aircrafts, as well to provide spare and repair options when traditional manufacturing is no longer an option (i.e. no suppliers, material or process obsolescence, lost or damaged tooling, etc.). There are many military aircrafts that have design service life requirements of at least 30 years but have already been flying far beyond the original design life, and end of life is still quite a ways out.
- B-52 — Active service since 1954, planned operation until 2045 (> 90 years!!!)
- E-3 AWACS — Active service since 1977, projected service until 2040’s (> 63 years!!!)
- KC-135 — Active service since 1957, possible service until 2040’s (> 80 years!!!)
In this workshop we will dive into and focus on Additive Manufacturing, casting, forging, extrusion, sheet metal forming, flame spray and blend and fill repair alternatives, and more. A special focus will be on the emerging future technologies that are completely disrupting the supply chain (i.e. Additive Friction Stir Deposition, Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, Carbon CLIP, Additive Sheet Lamination, Continuous Carbon Fiber AM, Cold Spray, Directed Energy Deposition, Incremental Sheet Forming, and more). Attendees will walk away with an understanding of these technologies and their application to Aerospace sustainment, as well as an understanding of how to determine candidates for the technologies and select the right technology for a particular need. An understanding of the certification environment and typical requirements will also be discussed.
