AddUp tops United States Air Force fatigue study for Inconel 718 components
November 22, 2024
AddUp, headquartered in Cébazat, France, has announced that it has achieved the top ranking among the participants of a High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) study. The ‘Development of Manufacturing, Heat Treatment, and Surface Finishing Guidelines to Yield Ready-to-Use IN-718 Additive Manufacturing Components’ contract was initiated through the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme and was led by REM Surface Engineering (REM).
Aimed to harness the potential of Laser Bean Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) and surface finishing technologies to produce IN-718 components for legacy armament systems, the study researched the impact of various heat treatment and printing parameter combinations in association with REM’s surface finishing technology. The goal was to learn what effect each combination would have on a component’s mechanical properties such as tensile strength and fatigue life.
This blind study had participation from four major metal Additive Manufacturing OEMs/service bureaux and included a variety of critical testing conditions to determine fatigue performance in additively manufactured components. These conditions included Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) versus non-HIP treatments, contour versus non-contour melting strategies, and angled building at multiple angles including 0, 45 and 90°.
Among the anonymous OEM participants, AddUp identifies themselves as vendor #1 (V1) and noted that its results outperforms competitors, especially when parts produced on the FormUp 350 were combined with REM’s surface finishing technology, the Extreme ISF Process, reportedly enhancing material properties for corrosion and fatigue resistance. AddUp’s fine powder and roller recoater system on the FormUp 350 enables extremely high-quality surface finishes, an attribute which plays an important role in fatigue strength. REM’s novel surface finishing solution was shown to have further strengthened these properties, reducing material degradation and maximising performance and reliability.
Fatigue resistance is essential in IN-718 applications, particularly in demanding aerospace and defence environments where structural integrity and reliability are crucial. The results from this study emphasize how fine-tuned AM parameters combined with advanced finishing technologies can reduce component downtime and cost, ensuring mission-critical operations proceed with enhanced performance.
“The results from this research programme are of great value to the DOD and the additive industry overall,” stated Dr Augustin Diaz, Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Manager at REM Surface Engineering. “The fatigue study shows that the combination of AddUp’s PBF-LB technology with REM’s surface finishing process generated the highest fatigue resistance, providing valuable data for potential aerospace and defence component applications.”
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