Join us for the AMMO monthly meeting!
Minutes
On 9 January 2019, the Additive Manufacturing Maintenance Operations (AMMO) working group conducted a teleconference with over 50 participants. A summary follows:
VRC Metal Systems and Cold Spray (Industry Highlight): Christian Widener (VRC) provided an overview of VRC Metal Systems and described the advantages of high-pressure cold spray to include the ability to repair parts previously considered unrepairable. He discussed several examples of cold spray to include the first fielded cold spray near-net shape AM part. He also listed 108 repaired military parts that have been fielded, an additional 371 awaiting final qualification, and discussed the equipment being used. Cold spray is gaining traction due to cost savings, repair vs. replace, life extension with superior surface properties and reduced downtime, minimal distortion, and sustainability. Finally, he listed the conditions for a good cold spray candidate. A record of the Q&A is attached.
CTMA Blockchain Project: Dana Ellis (NCMS) and Tim Abbott (Moog) discussed a CTMA project on “Adapting Blockchain Technology for Additive Manufacturing”. The project uses the Moog VeriPartTM solution to provide a point of use, time of need, smart digital supply chain that utilizes Blockchain technology to provide end-to-end trusted, verifiable assets in the digital and physical space. They discussed the blockchain and site workflows and projected some of the VeriPart screens. They also described the order validation and data package transfer process and validation with blockchain. They finished with a list of benefits available when using a Blockchain enabled solution, to include:
- Enables leveraging benefits of additive manufacturing at depots and forward deployed locations
- Reduced time to acquire critical need parts
- Increased operational readiness
- Reduced risk for unplanned needs
- Provides chain of custody for digital and digital to physical assets
A record of the Q&A is attached.
Next AMMO /America Makes / JAMWG Workshop:
- 18 – 19 June 2019 at the Lockheed Martin Global Vision Center, in Crystal City, VA.
- Five Main Thrust Areas
- Data and Model Sharing (JAMX), including Blockchain update
- Qualification and Certification (Examine how to streamline the process)
- Business Processes (Including AM Contracting Guide)
- Workforce Development (potential leaders – Bill Kobren (DAU), Andy Monje (ODASD/ SE)
- DoD Additive Manufacturing Policy
America Makes AM Mx and Sustainment Advisory Group Update: Marilyn Gaska, Lockheed Martin, provided the following update:
- Kelly Visconti provided an update on the JAMWG using the charts she used at the DoD Maintenance Symposium.
- America Makes is conducting a workshop on AM post processing techniques (See AM website)
- Josh Cramer is the new Education and Workforce Director.
- TRX @ SWRI – San Antonio, TX, on March 20 – 21.
- NCDMM Summit 2019 in Blairsville, PA on May 8 – 9.
- Next Monthly Teleconference is on Jan 17
Next Meeting: – The next AMMO WG call is scheduled for 10:30-12:00 am (Eastern Time) on Wednesday, 6 February 2019.
POC for this action is Ray Langlais, LMI, rlanglais@lmi.org, (571) 633-8019
Q&A
VRC Metals and Cold Spray (Industry Highlight) – Christian Widener
————————–
Q1. What are DoD’ best structural repair opportunities for cold spray?
A1. Any part worn or damaged below allowable limits, where a repair could add back sufficient safety margin to the component, and a prevent further progression of damage to the substrate, and of course, targeted on expensive and long lead time parts.
What Family of Parts? Structural parts from any number of parts families.
Q2. What are the DoD or commercial specs and standards that govern cold spray processes and products?
A2. Currently, cold spray specification development is being led by the DoD. The Army Research Laboratory has written a general cold spray spec “Mil-STD-3021” and a pending powder spec “Mil-DTL-32495”. In addition, industry process specific process specifications/repair procedures have been written for the parts repaired and fielded to-date. However, there is still a lot of work to do in this area so that the DoD can take full advantage of this technology, and more resources will be needed to accomplish this in a meaningful time frame.
Q3. Is CSAT working toward qualification and certification of cold spray for families of similar parts?
A3. Not as a separately funded activity, but that kind of work is being coordinated to some extent through CSAT, and many of the CSAT participants.
Q4. Can the Helium be recovered during the cold spray process?
A4. Yes, helium is recoverable and recyclable in closed loop systems attached to specially designed cold spray booths.
Q5. Do the Military Services have an active list of cold spray candidate repair parts? Is it based on relative benefits to readiness and/or cost?
A5. Each service has developed repair component lists to some extent but mostly screened for dimensional repairs of high value and long lead time parts. As acceptance for structural repair has increased, there is a need to look at potential parts again, with an even broader focus to really highlight how big the opportunities really are for enhancing weapon system readiness and reducing maintenance costs using cold spray.
Q6. In terms of the raw material used, does this process use the same gas atomized powders used in HVOF or Powder bed AM? (Fred H.)
A6. Yes, the base powders can be from the same bulk powder production processes, but we generally do additional thermal treatments, sieving, blending, etc. of the off-the-shelf powders to increase both the reliability and achievable properties of the cold spray process, since this is a fully solid-state deposition process that relies on mechanical deformation of the powder and retains the microstructure of the powder in the final coating.
Q7. Can you talk to how the qualification and certification for these repairs are done? What testing is required, etc.? (Dave Siddle)
A7. Qualification requirements, of course, depend on the part, but can include adhesion testing, hardness, and tensile testing, along with corrosion and wear testing, as well as porosity and non-destructive inspection. Also, often booth qualification coupons and witness coupons are sprayed for actual part repairs to ensure the quality of each and every repair part.
Q8. Do you need to do pre-cleaning of the part before you apply cold spray? 2) Can this be applied on Al and Al Alloy parts which go through continuous vibration and flexing fatigue strains and stresses? (Ram Shetty)
A8. 1) We do recommend pre-cleaning to minimize the base oxide level of the substrate in-order to promote better adhesion. This often includes grit blasting, but can also be Scotch-brite and solvent wipe, etc. However, almost any process can ultimately be deposited on, and so if needed processes can potentially be qualified on any surface required if the properties are deemed acceptable following a given procedure, and best cleaning practices are not possible in a given situation.
2) Absolutely, but not without qualification and validation testing for a specific substrate material combination and some level of first article testing and validation. The same way that a base alloy can go through vibration and fatigue, but the part design and material selection have to be qualified and validated.
Q9. Are there typical defects that can occur in cold spray and what inspection techniques are used to find these? (Dave Siddle)
A9. Poor adhesion is one defect, which is found using ASTM adhesion test methods on first article parts, witness coupons, or booth qualification coupons. It can also potentially be found non-destructively using UT and the strength of the reflection wave peaks, but standards have not been developed for that yet. Lack of tensile strength can be found by witness coupon testing as well and non-destructively using electrical conductivity probes and comparison to qualified test data. Porosity can be found by making micrographs of test samples or by conductivity. Particle velocity measurements can also be used before and after cold spray to ensure that the process did not change during deposition, and is within an acceptable range that has been correlated to a specific qualified process.
Q10. Is there repeatability information on this process and material properties? The presented data appeared to only have single data points. (Matt Borsinger)
A10. Yes, for approved applications there are s-basis numbers for a given approved process, but you are correct, the data presented were only example results on various materials.
Q11. Is cold spray mainly an industrial capability or can it be successfully applied in an expeditionary environment? What are the setup requirements to put it in place? (David James)
A11. Cold spray can definitely be applied in the field. Proper personal protective equipment, including hearing protection, P95 dust masks or full-face filtered respirators (depending on the material being sprayed), eye protection, thermally insulated gloves, etc. Local dust collection is also recommended, and if performed in a confined space, sufficient volumetric flow to maintain a healthy oxygen level and prevent oxygen displacement by an inert gas. The system also needs 480V 60A electrical supply and up to 110 cfm at 1000 psi Nitrogen, Helium, or Dry/Oil Free Compressed Air.
Q12. How does a cold sprayed material machine compare to the same material wrought, cast or forged? (Susan Moehring)
A12. Cold spray basically machines just like wrought metal and will cut chips, etc. rather than flake or fracture, but it is work hardened, so it may machine a little differently or better at a different rotation speed, etc. We also recommend taking less aggressive cut depths to avoid unnecessarily stressing the coating, but it can be considered fully machinable from fly cutters on a mill to turning on a lathe. It can also be cut, sanded, filed, ground, or polished just like the base metal.
CTMA BlockChain Project – Dana Ellis & Tim Abbott
————————–
Q1. Are you able to share what parts you are doing this work on? (Matt Borsinger-DLA)
A1. There are 2 parts, cover, and a manifold. If DoD, I can share this information. Both are DLA approved.
Q2. Dana, who is your main DLA POC? (Tony Delgado)
A2. Tony Delgado is our focal point and primary DLA POC.
Q3. If the blockchain was hacked, how would the customer know it?
A3. Blockchain uses multiple nodes, you would have to take over 51% of the nodes simultaneously. Low likelihood of hacking. If any change is identified, it throws a flag and reverts to last known state. We will simulate an attack.
Q4. Will the parts actually be bided and procured with this project?
A4. Because of the nature, they are not procurement.
Q5. When will the tech demo with the targeted DoD activities be completed?
A5. End of March target date.
Q6. From your slide, it seems like you are using the Microsoft version of Blockchain for this pilot. Is this correct?
A6. No. MS is providing the cloud environment. The blockchain is being developed by Moog.
Downloads
VRC – Cold Spray Overview – AMMO – Jan 8 2019 – Distribution A
AMMO Adapting BC Technology PoC (FINAL)20190109
Visual Presentations:
Enter as a guest on Conference America: https://ncms.adobeconnect.com/ammo/
Conference Line:
Call: 888-537-7715, Conference ID: 16161715#
Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/09/2019
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM