METHOD FOR UPGRADING A COMPONENT WITHIN REFURBISHMENT

One of the arguments against an increased use of repair is that, due to the constantly growing progress, an often already outdated component would be restored. However, refurbishment also allows a component to be modified in order to upgrade it to the state of the art or to adapt it to changed requirements. Many existing approaches regarding Design for Upgradeability are based on a modular product architecture. In these approaches, however, only the upgradeability of a product is considered through the exchange of components. Nevertheless, the exchange and improvement of individual component regions within a refurbishment has already been successfully carried out using additive processes. In this paper, a general method is presented to support the reengineering process, which is necessary to refurbish and upgrade a damaged component. In order to identify which areas can be replaced in the closed system of a component, the systematics of the modular product architecture are used. This allows dependencies between functions and component regions to be identified. Thus, it possible to determine which functions can be integrated into the intended component.

Tool and Die Making, Surface Treatment, and Repair by Laser-based Additive Processes

This paper explores the possibilities to use laser-based additive processes to make, surface treat and repair/remanufacture tools, dies and molds for cold working, hot working, and injection molding. The failures encountered in these applications are described. The materials used conventionally and in the laser additive processes are accounted for. The properties of the tools, dies and molds made by Laser-based Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) are as good as and in some cases better than the properties of those made in wrought materials. Shorter cycle time, reduced friction, smaller abrasive wear, and longer life cycle are some of the benefits of L‑PBF and Directed Energy Deposition with powder (DED-p) (or Laser Metal Deposition with powder, LMD‑p, or Laser Cladding, LC). L‑PBF leads to higher toolmaking costs and shorter toolmaking lead time. Based on a review of conducted investigations, this paper shows that it is possible to design and make tools, dies and molds for and by L‑PBF, surface functionalize them by DED-p (LMD‑p, LC), and repair/remanufacture them by DED-p (LMD‑p, LC). With efficient operational performance as the target for the whole tool life cycle, this combination of L‑PBF and DED-p (LMD‑p, LC) has the greatest potential for hot working and injection molding tools and the smallest for cold working tools (due to the current high L‑PBF and DED-p (LMD‑p, LC) costs).

3D-Druck für die Mobilität von morgen/Additive-subtractive process with inline process control for highly functional plastic components – 3D printing for the mobility of the future

Additive Verfahren besitzen das Potenzial den durch die Globalisierung und Digitalisierung getriebenen Trend hin zur Individualisierung und kürzeren Produktlebenszyklen wirtschaftlich zu adressieren. Insbesondere im Bereich der Mobilität ergeben sich hierbei aufgrund der hohen Volatilität besondere Herausforderungen. Um diese zu bewältigen, wird hier ein hochflexibles Anlagenkonzept zur additiv-subtraktiven Fertigung hochfunktionaler Kunststoffbauteile mit Inline-Prozessregelung vorgestellt.   Additive processes have the potential to address the trend towards individualization and shorter product life cycles driven by globalization and digitization. Particularly in the area of mobility, special challenges arise due to the high volatility. To overcome these, a highly flexible system concept for the additive-subtractive production of highly functional plastic components with inline process control is presented here.

From additive to second-order processes

The familiar Poisson process is a member of a class of stochastic processes known as additive processes. This broad class also contains the birth-death processes. Second-order processes are processes with two moments finite. The class of second-order processes includes the well-known weakly stationary as well as harmonizable processes. A natural evolution of concepts linking the class of additive processes and the class of second-order processes will be detailed. The connection arises via stable processes and random measures

Process Capability of Aerosol-Jet Additive Processes for Long-Runs Up to 10-Hours

Traditionally, printed circuit assemblies have been fabricated through a combination of imaging and plating-based subtractive processes involving the use of photo-exposure followed by baths for plating and etching in order to form the necessary circuitry on rigid and flexible laminates. The emergence of a number of additive technologies presents an opportunity for the development of processes for manufacturing of flexible substrates by utilizing mainstream additive processes. Aerosol-jet printing is capable of printing lines and spaces below 10 μm in width. The aerosol-jet system also supports a wide variety of materials, including nanoparticle inks, screen-printing pastes, conductive polymers, insulators, adhesives, and biological matter. The adoption of additive manufacturing for high-volume commercial fabrication requires an understanding of the print consistency and electrical mechanical properties. Little literature that addresses the effect of varying sintering time and temperature on the shear strength and resistivity of the printed lines exists. In this study, the effect of process parameters on the resultant line consistency and mechanical and electrical properties has been studied. Print process parameters studied include sheath rate, mass flow rate, nozzle size, substrate temperature, and chiller temperature. Properties include resistance and shear load to failure of the printed electrical line as a function of varying sintering time and temperature. The aerosol-jet machine has been used to print interconnects. Printed samples have been exposed to different sintering times and temperatures. The resistance and shear load to failure of the printed lines have been measured. The underlying physics of the resultant trend was then investigated using elemental analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The effect of line consistency drift over prolonged runtimes has been measured for up to 10 h of runtime. The printing process efficiency has been gaged as a function of the process capability index (Cpk) and process capability ratio (Cp). Printed samples were studied offline utilizing optical profilometry in order to analyze the consistency within the line width, height, and resistance, and shear load to study the variance in electrical and mechanical properties over time.