Manufacturing Repeatability Study of a Titanium Electron Beam Melting Additively Manufactured Topology Optimized Tapered Box Beam Structure

Abstract

For metal additive manufacturing to fully penetrate into the commercial aircraft industry the process must be stable and repeatable. The product safety of high-quality serial production components is directly related to manufacturing repeatability. Three experiments were carried to understand the repeatability of the electron beam melting powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process using an Arcam A2X with Ti-6Al-4V. The first experiment studied a single beam segment while the second looked at the layering and hatch scan effects. This study culminated in a tapered box beam resembling a scaled down commercial aircraft engine pylon forward strut box that was designed for additive manufacturing using 3D topology optimization. The final design had an asymmetric organic-like truss structure that was manufactured in two halves. A series of three builds was executed to produce six beam specimens that were topologically 3D scanned to determine the variation from the CAD model and part to part.