R. J. Adams, D. Mittendorf, S. Sperl, Honeywell, Tempe, AZ; F. Arcella, D. Abbott, AeroMet Corporation, Eden Praire, MN; N. Chawla, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Summary:

Honeywell and AeroMet have teamed to explore use of Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM) for fabricating rhenium (Re) components for use in Honeywell's family of hot gas valves. AeroMet has previously proved the concept of using LAM for building Re components. Therefore to facilitate implementation into production, a joint project to build and characterize components for hot gas valves was initiated. Progress has been made and we will describe those advances. As explained at previous AeroMat conferences, LAM is a near-net-shape hardware manufacturing process that uses a laser to deposit metal in small discreet amounts and ultimately build a complete part. Components can be used as deposited or post-deposition processed to gain some improvement in properties and then final machined.

SFF was developed as part of the trend toward use of net-shape and near-net-shape methods using no molds, mandrels or patterns such as powder metallurgy, plasma spraying and chemical vapor deposition processes. Using SFF, the part is built in three-dimensional space using a computer and electronic model to direct location of discreet deposits until a full part is built.

We will present information about tensile strength, microstructure and tensile specimen fracture mechanisms as well as plans for future work.