April_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | A P R I L 2 0 2 0 4 0 iTSSe TSS iTSSe TSS manufacturing steps in a single CSAM unit, incorporating sur- face preparation, cold spray forming and buildup, local la- ser-based thermal treatment, and in-situ sequential robotic machining and semi-finishing (Fig. 2). A fully digitalized man- ufacturing environment allows for advanced process control and implementation of machine learning strategies toward In- dustry 4.0 expectations. Two 7-axis robots, with 300 kilograms payload each, are customizable and configured for coordinat- ed and simultaneous process operations to produce, modify, or repair industrial-scale components up to eight meters long. Through NRC’s robotics platform enabling high fidelity elastic signature determination and real-time correction [7] , high ac- curacy/high dynamics machining and semi-finishing opera- tions are supported. Compatible withmultiple state-of-the-art high-pressure cold spray deposition systems, high build-up rates, excellent adhesion, and fully dense deposits are typical for most materials. A mobile dust collector unit ensures op- timal environmental conditions during processing over the entire available work space. Operations officially commenced on March 25 of this year at the PolyCSAM facility, located at the National Research Council of Canada’s Boucherville site in Quebec, Canada. Arising out of the collaboration between Polycontrols Technologies Inc. and the NRC, the PolyCSAM facility is primarily designed for developing TRL 7-9 custom solutions that are readily transferable to the shop floor to re- duce time to market/time to implementation with a minimum initial investment risk. The six-year venturewill also offer train- ing for manufacturers, students, and young professionals to ensure that the technology is implemented safely and securely on production floors. PolyCSAM APPLICATIONS With a focus on scaling the CSAM process to meet factory and mass production requirements, a variety of materials and applications are addressed at PolyCSAM. Materials include Al and alloys Al7075, Al6061, Al5083, Ni and Inconel 625, 718, steels such as P20, H13, 1040, SS316, SS420, 4340 (300M), Ti and Ti-6Al-4V, and Cu and Cu alloys. Applications encompass FEATURE 6 dimensional restoration of aircraft parts [5-6] , protective coat- ings to replace plating technology [6] , corrosionprotection coat- ings for nuclear used-fuel containers [8] , electrical connectors for high power line switches, biomedical implants [9-10] , light- weight aluminum disk brakes [11] , industrial electrodes, light- ning strike protection of aircraft [12] , stiffener ribs for aerospace and ground transportation panels, manufacturing, repair and overhaul of injectionmolds, dies and inserts, permanent mag- nets for next-generation electric motors and others [13] . In an example, cold sprayed copper has been chosen by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) for cov- ering the closure weld of nuclear used-fuel containers (UFC) in Deep Geological Repository (DGR) [8] . The fully dense three-mil- limeter thick copper layer with next to zero oxygen pickup far exceeds the current corrosion allowance of < 1.3mm in the first 1,000,000 years, protecting the underlying steel vessel through “deep time.” Further, the sprayed layer is not subject to any creep. Being one of the final process operations performed on the nuclear fuel filled containers, the cold spray facility is large enough to manipulate the entire vessel, i.e., the current Cana- dian reference design of the “Mark II” UFC is about two and a half-meters long and about half a meter in diameter. With PolyCSAM as a demonstrator, the facility must be additionally capable of hybrid processing including surface finish/machin- ing with all process steps being fully automated to eventually allow autonomous and operator-free operations of the radio- active waste fuel canisters. Even hard, high-strength materials such as tools steels H13 and P20, which were traditionally considered difficult to cold spray due to their lack of ductility, have more recently been rendered well-suited for the CSAM process through tun- ing of the feedstock and the availability of high-performance spray systems [14] . The new capability to deposit tool steels at high deposition rate and with no heat affected zone poten- tially represents a game-changing technology for the tooling industry to rapidly accommodate design change or repair complex and expensive tools, without risking distortion or Fig. 1 — Cold sprayed additively manufactured as-sprayed Cu bracket. Fig. 2 — A hybrid manufacturing concept: One robot builds structural reinforcements (additive operation), while a second robot performs the finishing operations (subtractive operation) and inspection, all in a digital environment.