100 + INNOVATIONS
Robust and Sustainable Australian Superalloy Manufacturing
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Manufacturing superalloys for harsh environments such as aerospace
Research Project
Challenge
In this collaboration with an Australian manufacturer, innovative processing routes are established for aerospace materials that are largely defectfree and that contain higher fractions of recycled input materials. This not only leads to higher production yield and sustainability but also reduced costs and increased passenger safety in air travel.
Solution
At the industrial scale, any batch of superalloy material weighs several tons, making experimentation difficult. In this project, industrial processes, such as melting, casting and forging, are down-scaled to lab-size trials, unlocking systematic parameter studies. Computational tools and microscopy underpin this. The data gained in such experiments is used to feed back into industrial processing, enabling adjustments of the chemistry and forging schedule to achieve defect-free materials.
Target customers / end-users
• aerospace manufacturers
• airlines customers
• oil and gas industry suppliers.
Progress
• > AU $ 800k in research funding / grant support( two ARC Linkage grants)
• lab-scale simulations of industrial manufacturing processes successfully upscaled
• 17 publications to date in leading scientific journals.
Validated( real-world setting)
TRL 9
Advanced Manufacturing, Materials & Design
Superalloys contain more than 10 chemical elements. This enables them to perform in harsh environments with high temperatures and mechanical loads, as well as in corrosive atmospheres, such as those found in an aircraft engine. However, this makes their manufacturing process expensive and prone to the formation of defects, such as cracks.
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