MOSCOW, July 10 A mathematical model developed by OmskSTU scientists will improve the accuracy of manufacturing aircraft engine parts from titanium and aluminum alloys. The unique development will help reduce the number of defects, increase production productivity and make air travel more accessible and safe, the authors believe. The results were published in the journal «Bulletin of Mechanical Engineering».
Manufacturers of aviation equipment are constantly struggling to reduce the weight of parts, said scientists from Omsk State Technical University (OmSTU). On the one hand, to achieve this, the walls of the products can be made thinner, but this leads to a decrease in their rigidity, warping and loss of the desired shape.
On the other hand, it is possible to reduce the weight of parts such as disks, impellers, blades, rings, flanges and others by using light but strong materials, such as titanium and aluminum alloys, the researchers believe. At the same time, according to them, when producing these products, due to their low rigidity and high complexity of processing materials, a significant portion of the products are rejected. Because of this, it was necessary to reduce the processing speed, which increased the production time.
Omsk State Technical University scientists have found a way to reduce the number of defective aircraft parts without reducing productivity. To process them faster without sacrificing quality, it was necessary to take into account all the factors that affect the accuracy of processing: cutting forces, clamping forces and residual stresses in the material.
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«Based on this information, we created a mathematical model that allows us to calculate the optimal processing modes for each part, reduce the number of defective parts and increase labor productivity. Ultimately, the development will help make air transportation more accessible and safer,» said associate professor of the Department of Hydromechanics and Transport Machines Omsk State Technical University Grigory Nesterenko.
He noted that experimental studies using special samples showed that the methodology for predicting errors can be used at the stage of technological preparation of production. The discrepancy between the calculated error values and the values obtained during experimental studies did not exceed 10%.
«Our model allows us to quite accurately predict possible processing errors and make the necessary adjustments in advance when manufacturing parts,» the scientist added.
Other research teams that study machining titanium alloys for aircraft use are focusing more on ensuring the precision of smaller parts, such as shafts and plates, he said. However, they do not take into account all factors affecting the quality of processing or conduct research only for certain conditions.
The uniqueness of the research results lies in the fact that the scientists took into account cutting forces, clamping forces and residual stresses, so the model they created more accurately describes the process of processing titanium parts, says Nesterenko.
In the future, scientists plan, using the developed mathematical model and application packages, to visualize the processes of changing the shape and size of non-rigid parts, as well as to make a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the resulting errors. This will eliminate defects at the pre-production stage. Visualization of the process will allow you to identify disk elements that are more susceptible to warping and loss of shape.