Friction forming

Abstract

A method of forming a component by applying a forming load to a blank of material against a mandrel, wherein the mandrel defines the shape of the component to be formed and applying a forming load as a combination of a localised force and localised friction heating.

Claims

1. A method of forming a component, the method comprising: applying a forming load to a blank of material against a mandrel, said mandrel defining the shape of the component to be formed, wherein the forming load is applied as a combination of a localised force and localised friction heating, wherein the localised force and the localised friction heating are applied by a rotatable head comprising a shoulder that engages with a surface of the blank at a predetermined angle between a surface of the shoulder and the blank surface to apply the localised force to the blank surface, the predetermined angle being nonzero.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the blank is connected to the mandrel such that the blank and the mandrel rotate or move as one.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the localised force and localised friction are simultaneously applied to a portion of the blank surface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the blank, the mandrel, the localised force, and the localised friction are moved relative to each other until the blank of material has been brought into contact with an outer surface of the mandrel.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the blank and the mandrel are moved relative to the localised force and the localised friction or the localised force and localised friction are moved relative to the blank and the mandrel.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising rotating the blank and the mandrel such that the localised force and the localised friction arc arranged to simultaneously move along the blank surface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the localised force and the localised friction are applied to incremental portions of the blank surface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the localised force and localised friction are applied by the rotatable head comprising a distal portion arranged to apply a force to the blank surface and wherein the rotatable head is a friction stir welding apparatus.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the rotatable head is in the form of a rotatable wheel or disc, the method further comprising biasing and rotating the rotatable wheel or disc against the blank surface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the localised force and the localised friction are applied by the rotatable head comprising a distal portion arranged to apply a force to the blank surface and further arranged to vibrate in a plane perpendicular to an elongate axis of the distal portion.

Description

DRAWINGS

(1) Examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a gas turbine engine and engine nacelle;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a cross-section of the engine nacelle of the engine shown in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates the conventional manufacturing process for nacelle manufacture using a mandrel, roller and flame heater;

(5) FIG. 4 shows an apparatus as described herein;

(6) FIG. 5A shows one embodiment of a forming head;

(7) FIG. 5B shows a cross-section of the forming head in engagement with the blank material surface;

(8) FIG. 5C shows the tracks or paths produced by the forming head along the blank surface;

(9) FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate the microstructure of an example aluminium material before and after the penetrative process has been performed, respectively;

(10) FIG. 7 illustrates alternative means to generate the heat to plasticise the material; and

(11) FIGS. 8A and 8B show further examples as described herein.

(12) While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific examples are shown in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that drawings and detailed description attached hereto do not limit the invention to the particular form disclosed but rather the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention

(13) It will be recognised that the features of the examples described herein can conveniently and interchangeably be used in any suitable combination

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(14) The principle behind the present disclosure is to perform two processes simultaneously to form a component such as a leading edge of an aircraft. One example is a nacelle which must exhibit the required strength whilst being light and resistant to corrosion and wear.

(15) By using a modified friction stir process, in combination with a conventional forming process, significant advantages can be realised. For example, using a friction stir process to modify the grain structure of the material being used to form the component can greatly reduce the degradation of the alloy that can occur with conventional processes. The material grain structure can also be refined which improves mechanical properties such as strength and wear resistance.

(16) During a friction stir process, the material is heated so as to soften and plasticise but importantly it is not heated such that it melts. Preventing melting during the manufacturing process significantly enhances material properties. The forming tool of the present disclosure (described in detail below) causes the material to plasticise using heat generated by friction between the tool and the blank material. The component is simultaneously formed into the desired shape by the force which is applied to generate the friction. The forming head is movable whilst the plasticisation occurs allowing a shape to be formed against a mould or mandrel.

(17) There is a synergy in the present disclosure in that:

(18) (a) the forming of the blank into the desired shape is facilitated by the softened state of the material (as a result of heating by friction or other heating). This means the blank can be conveniently formed into complex shapes, such as an engine nacelle profile;
(b) it has been demonstrated in the field that the refined microstructure associated with friction stir processing can in fact enhance the inherent formability of the material; and
(c) the mechanical properties of the material are simultaneously enhanced by applying a friction stir process which disturbs the microstructure of the material at the outer surface providing, amongst others, the benefits described herein. For example the friction stir process creates a more refined microstructure which can lead to a harder surface with improved erosion resistance. Additionally friction stir processing can advantageously improve corrosion resistance in some commonly used aluminium alloys.

(19) It should be recognised that whilst the friction stir process is discussed in some detail herein, any process which disrupts the microstructure in the same way whilst forming the component is equally advantageous. The disclosure herein extends to other forms of heating the blank material during forming.

(20) Any example machining process will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

(21) FIG. 4 shows the components of the machining apparatus.

(22) The example shown in FIG. 4 is a rotating mandrel used to form a leading edge of an engine nacelle. The present disclosure is not limited to this component and can be applied to any component which is suitable for the friction forming process of the present disclosure.

(23) The mandrel 9 is arranged to rotate by means of a drive unit (not shown) around the elongate axis 10 of the mandrel body. The outer surface 11 of the mandrel defines the desired shape of the final component. At the opposing end of the mandrel a coupling 12 is provided which secures the mandrel about the elongate axis at the second distal end and also secures a blank of material 13 to the end of the mandrel.

(24) Adjacent to the mandrel is a multi-axis robotic arm which is CNC controlled according to a machining programme, as discussed below. The robotic arm is arranged to move a forming head 15 with respect to the mandrel and blank material. The forming head is described in detail below.

(25) In use the mandrel is rotated causing the blank 13 and mandrel to rotate together. The blank 13 in shown above the axis 11 in a series of incremental formed positions A to F. Position F corresponds to the blank's position below the axis 10 where it has been biased against the mandrel surface 11. This corresponds to position F above the axis 11.

(26) The robotic arm (or in another arrangement a conventional multi-axis head or parallel kinematic machine) is programmed to complete a path during the manufacturing process to apply a force against the blank surface as the mandrel rotates. With sufficient reach and movability, the mandrel may not need to be rotated if the robotic arm (or the like) could navigate around the entire component.

(27) Returning to the rotating mandrel in FIG. 4, the robotic arm forces the forming head against the blank surface to progressively and incrementally move the blank material from position A through, B, C, D, E and to F as the mandrel rotates.

(28) The forming head not only provides a forming load or force which is applied to the blank but it also generates simultaneous heat which is applied to the blank surface.

(29) The way the heat is generated in combination with the load application will be described with reference to FIG. 5A.

(30) The forming head 15 includes a rotatable portion which is formed of a main body 16 and probe 17. The main body defines a shoulder 18 extending radially from the probe. The body and probe are arranged along the same axis. The body is arranged to rotate with respect to the connecting lug 19 which couples the forming head to the robotic arm 14. The rotating head may be caused to rotate by any suitable means, such as a high speed electric motor.

(31) Turning to FIG. 5B, the forming head 15 is shown in contact with the blank material 13. In fact the forming tool has penetrated the material as described in more detail below.

(32) In use, the forming head is activated to cause high speed rotation of the body and probe.

(33) The precise rotating speed of the probe, angle of incidence and force applied will depend on the materials being processed amongst other factors. One example of process parameters are as follows: Temperature by necessity must not exceed the melting temperature of the material. For aluminium alloys, typically parameters are selected to ensure temperature stays below 500° C. Typical processing conditions for an aluminium alloy could be of the order of 300 RPM tool rotational speed, and 200 mm/min tool traverse speed. The precise parameters vary dependent on a range of factors including material grade, material thickness, tool heat sinking characteristics and so forth. Forge/forming force could be in the range of tens of Newtons to kilo-Newtons dependent on the aforementioned parameters, the amount of form required in the part, and the support structure/tool design.

(34) As an example, the processing temperature may be up to around 80% of the melting temperature of the material.

(35) The robotic arm is activated according to its programme and/or proximity sensors and slowly brings the probe into contact with the blank surface as it rotates. Heat is generated by friction between the end of the probe and the blank material until the heat causes plastic flow of the blank material around the probe. The robotic arm then applies an increased force causing the pin to penetrate the surface of the material to a predetermined depth d.

(36) The robotic arm then rotates the forming head with respect to the surface of the blank be a predetermined angle alpha. This causes the shoulder 18 to engage with the blank surface to apply a loading (this loading causes the biasing or movement between A and F shown in FIG. 4). Next, the robotic arm moves the forming head in the direction X along the surface of the blank.

(37) FIG. 5C shows the trail in the material that is left behind caused by the advancing side of the forming head (where the rotation is in a X direction) and an opposing trailing side of the forming head (where rotation is in the Y direction). Multiple passes (shown as ghost lines) show how an entire surface can be processed incrementally.

(38) The metallurgy behind the process that occurs by means of the apparatus described above will now be described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B which illustrate the microstructure of the material before and after the tooling has passing through the material.

(39) The rotating tool passes through the material, generating heat via friction, and causing physical disruption to the microstructure at the present location of the tool and immediate vicinity. Where the tool ‘plunge depth’ is smaller than the thickness of the material, generally the ‘stirring’ caused by the pin in the plasticised material disturbs the surface layer.

(40) FIG. 6A illustrates an aluminium blank before the process has occurred.

(41) FIG. 6B illustrates the same aluminium blank after the process.

(42) As shown in FIG. 6B, the microstructure after processing is much more refined, with a relatively uniform grain distribution in the processed area.

(43) The process can cause substantial changes in the mechanical properties of the material in terms of strength, erosion resistance, ductility and corrosion performance, which are inherently useful in a leading edge component. This is largely possible because the process does not melt the material but merely plasticises it and disrupts the microstructure.

(44) Although a rotating penetrating probe has been described above, other forms of generating the heat needed to plasticise the blank could equally be used as illustrated in FIG. 7.

(45) FIG. 7 illustrates three alternative means to apply friction heating into the material.

(46) One example is an orbital penetrative tool 19. This is a rotating tool that may, for example, be mounted onto a robotic arm to achieve the present process (as described above).

(47) A second example is a vibrating tool 20. Such a tool may reciprocate at high speeds and be brought into contact with the material so as to achieve the ‘stirring’ of the grain structure as described herein.

(48) A third example is an orbital surface tool 21 which, instead of reciprocating like the vibrating tool 20, rotates or obits about a central axis. Friction and force may then be applied to the material in the same way.

(49) FIGS. 8A and 8B show a further example in which the grain structure can be ‘stirred’ or refined whilst simultaneously applying a forming load to generate a desired final form or shape.

(50) Referring to FIG. 8A, a mandrel 22 the material 23 to be processed is brought into contact with the mandrel. Two alternative arrangements are in fact shown in FIG. 8A.

(51) A first approach is to use a combination of friction head 24 and forming head 25 simultaneously. The grain structure stirring is achieved by means of the friction head 24 and causes the refinement of the grain structure as described with reference to the other embodiments above. Simultaneously, a forming head 25 applies a load in the direction of the arrow to bias the material 23 against the mandrel. The heating effect of the friction head softens the material causing it to deform towards the mandrel on application of the load from the load head. Spacing the friction head and forming head allows for a greater bending moment to be achieved.

(52) Advantageously applying the friction stirring process and forming load separately in this way means that changes to the grain structure can be applied separately from the load, i.e., not all of the material need be processed by the friction stir process whilst simultaneously allowing the material to be brought into contact with the mandrel to form the desired shape. FIG. 8A also shows a combined friction head and loading head 26 in which the friction stir process and loading are applied at the same point. Again, the loading causes the material to be biased towards the mandrel to form the desired shape in combination with the grain refinement provided by the stirring process.

(53) FIG. 8B shows a further example which utilises a modified double sided friction stir welding head. The double sided head comprises two components 27A, 27B which are coupled together and pass through the material 23. The two are coaxial and arranged to be rotatable. The two components are coupled to a rotating head which causes the components 27A, 27B to rotate and generate the friction described above with reference to the other embodiments. In this arrangement, the two components then rotate and are moved through the material in the same way as described above (for example by means of a robotic arm of the like). The head may also be arranged to provide a loading force 29 which can be used to deform the material. As shown by restraining one part of the material in a vice 30 or the like, the friction forming head 28 (comprising the two components 27A and 27B) can be used to refine the grain structure whilst simultaneously causing the material to deform into a desired shape. This may be used in combination with a mandrel (not shown) or without a mandrel (as shown in FIG. 8B).

(54) In other examples, the friction head 24 at which the friction stir process is carried out may be positioned at a first location whilst a loading (or biasing) head/tool may be positioned at a second location. This loading tool may form the material 23 through, for example, local point loading, pressing or stretching type operations (but is not limited thereto). The second location may be distal or remote from the first location.

(55) Thus the head 24 and biasing head may be located in different positions with respect to the material being formed. Thus, in some examples, a mandrel may not be used but instead the biasing force is provided by a stationary or movable head separate from the friction stir forming head, i.e., decoupled plasticising/forming using the friction tool to plasticise in one location, and a different tool to form through local point loading, pressing, or stretching type operations initiated from a different location.

(56) Furthermore, heat friction may be applied (without the mandrel) with other vibrating/rotating tools different from friction stir tool. A double sided tool that ‘self-reacts’ forces on both sides of the plate may be used with one face of a law′ comprising the FSW apparatus and an opposing law′ providing the biasing force.

(57) Such arrangements (without a mandrel) may provide a number of advantages including (but not limited to): no mandrel costs, more adaptable processes, more optimisation potential and the option to form larger components.

(58) The discussion herein relating to a method and apparatus comprising a mandrel applies equally to an arrangement and method wherein the mandrel is replaced by a local or remote biasing force.

(59) According to such an example (which may be used in combination with the other embodiments described herein) the friction stir head is used to soften or plasticise the material such that the material may begin to flow and flex, i.e., to change in shape. Only small amounts of force need then be applied to change the shape of the material into the desired profile. More specifically, by plasticising the material using the friction stir welding head a force is not essential against a mandrel to create a desired profile or shape. This may advantageously allow large components to be formed without the need for large and costly mandrels. Thus, components with large surface areas may be formed using an apparatus and method described here.

(60) Different examples to achieve both friction enabled grain refinement and deformation may be combined together in any suitable arrangement.

(61) In another example, the apparatus described herein may additionally or alternatively be configured to include conventional machining tool functionality, in effect a friction forming machine fitting with machine tool functionality.

(62) For example, the apparatus may be provided with machining/grinding or polishing functionality (or other finishing process). Thus, an apparatus may be provided that is optimised for forming but which additionally enables a wider range of products or higher quality parts to be manufactured; this may be a bespoke friction forming machine.