Objetives

The main objective of ADDIFLAP is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of manufacturing titanium aircraft parts (flap track support) by Laser Wire Direct Energy Deposition (W-DED-LB) enhanced with a new design of carriage system based in sliding pad concept, by using a self-lubricant material.

To reach this objective ADDIFLAP will consider simulation of the W-DED-LB process in order to bring a deep understanding of the manufacturing strategies of the flap track by the proposed process. Different manufacturing strategies will be evaluated to reduce the final distortion of the near net shapes (NNS). Besides a novel sliding pad will be designed and manufactured based on the use of self-lubricant materials. The wear resistance of this sliding pad will be validated with a flap track support additively manufactured by W-DED-LB process

Technical objectives:

W-DED-LB procedure for the additive manufacturing of flap track structures:

• Modelling of the W-DED-LB manufacturing process to deploy the manufacturing strategy which reduces the distortions and residual stresses.
• Manufacturing of NNS by W-DED-LB process and dimensional control to validate the strategy model.
• Destructive and non-destructive testing of deposited material to check the technical viability of the W-DED-LB process for manufacturing titanium parts.
• Design of the test tooling to test the structural integrity of the flap track support.
• Validation of the flap track support manufactured by W-DED-LB process.

Model tests of self-lubricant coatings and development of sliding pad carriage:

• Evaluation of self-lubricating coatings using model wear tests.
• Design, manufacturing and realization of new sliding pad carriage.
• Testing of sliding pad carriage on a flap track structure manufactured by W-DED-LB.