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NC State University is leading an effort to develop Technical Data Packages (TDPs) for a series of aging mechanical parts from Navy aircraft. One major goal is to establish a reverse engineering and rapid prototyping protocol and process that will allow the creation of technical data packages and delivery of functional prototype parts to the Navy more quickly than the current processes in place in the DoD. A second goal is to establish reverse engineering capabilities in North Carolina and utilize, to the maximum extent possible, the capabilities of the members of the North Carolina Aerospace Alliance to assist with the reverse engineering and rapid prototyping of these parts. The reverse engineering lessons learned and capabilities developed from this exercise will enhance the reverse engineering process for future efforts, providing efficiencies of cost and time as well as improvements in quality. Another major effort is the implementation of an Agile Manufacturing technology to provide spare mechanical parts for aging aircraft, a technical and logistical challenge facing the Fleet Readiness Center (FRC-East). Reverse engineering of a spare part design and manufacturing procedures is often necessary yet very difficult to implement since technical data, blueprints, and/or manufacturing process documentation are no longer available. In addition, the manufacturing technologies used to produce spare parts for aging aircraft are typically costly. Usually only small quantities of spare parts are needed, but cost efficiencies of traditional metal part fabrication and production technologies are only achieved at high production lot sizes. FRC-East has an urgent need to develop reverse engineering capabilities and agile manufacturing technologies to rapidly build titanium alloy low volume parts that are not readily available for aging aircraft. NC State has the capability to rapidly produce small quantities of metal parts upon demand, without the need for molds or dies, using an Electron Beam Melting (EBM) additive manufacturing technology for the solid freeform fabrication of titanium alloy parts. NCSU purchased the first EBM machine in the world three years ago and is currently obtaining another machine, funded by the Golden Leaf Foundation, with the largest part size capability of any machine. This machine is available for industrial use and represents a unique capability. NC State’s objective is to reduce procurement cost and lead time for aerospace components. To achieve this, a reverse engineering and parts production process must be accepted as an alternate process for producing castings and/or forgings. NC State intends to continue working with partners at FSC-East, Boeing, and NASA to move this process toward full acceptance as a trusted manufacturing process. The overall effort will foster the growth of the NC aerospace manufacturing industry within the state and attract additional aerospace manufacturers to North Carolina while also establishing an engineering support resource base that can provide valuable services to the military and civilian industries of North Carolina. In addition, by growing the state’s aerospace infrastructure through support of small NC aerospace manufacturers, a critical mass of aerospace specific resources will become available to the military and aerospace OEMs. This larger NC aerospace infrastructure would be an asset for recruiting large aerospace companies, including OEMs, to build aerospace manufacturing facilities within the state.
Contact InformationDr. Jerome J. Cuomo Dr. Roger C. Sanwald Dr. John S. Strenkowski
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