Fan
New part: During the final machining of forged blades, snubbers are milled in accordance with the nominal geometry: a gentle transition to the blade surfaces is achieved by adaptation. Other applications include profiling of leading and trailing edges and machining of the platform.
Repair: Recontouring of the leading edge

Compressor
New part: Final machining of linear-friction-welded blisks
Repair: Recontouring of welded-on or patched tips or leading and trailing edges Fusion welding for tip repair

Combustion chamber
Repair: During repair of cracks, adaptive systems help to automate complex repairs and welding processes. Suitable strategies are selected here independently of the extent of the damage.

Turbine 
Repair: During a tip repair, OpenARMS captures the individual shape and position of the particular blade and takes it into account during the subsequent reprofiling by milling or grinding. See system integration.
Repair: Here OpenARMS supports the welding process carried out to reconstruct the seal profile in the tip region.

Turbine stator vanes
Repair: High loads cause a change in the blade profile. Following a previous soldering process, adaptive machining allows for automated reprofiling and thus the restoration of aero-engine capacity.

Blisk manufacturing
New part: OpenARMS removes the retaining elements needed during friction welding of blisks and creates a gentle transition to the annular space. The complete work sequence (measurement, calculation, performance) is monitored by OpenARMS.

Reworking of printed parts
After “printing,” functional surfaces, drillings and other functional elements are created via subtractive methods (such as milling) and the supporting structures required for the construction process are removed. Despite production-related geometrical fluctuations, adaptation allows for gentle transitions between the individual sectors.

Hybrid machining
Hybrid manufacturing methods within one machine constitute current application areas for adaptive machining, which in this context supports both laser material deposition (LMD) and subsequent reprofiling via milling or grinding. The deposition or addition of special functional elements to basic parts via laser fusion welding (mass customization) is another application.

Hybride maschines
During the repair of turbochargers, OpenARMS monitors the combination of additive and subtractive processes (hybrid). After the damage is removed by milling, the damaged areas are filled in with material by the same machine and subsequently reworked.

Moreover, local repairs can be performed on worn tools in the same way. Damaged areas are removed and preparations made for material deposition. Following material deposition, a milling process is used to restore the desired geometry.

New part: Geometrical deviations cause problems during many steps in composite manufacturing. Automation with conventional NC processes runs up against its limits here. However, these tasks can be mastered by geometrically adaptive machining.

In comparison with the relatively simple assembly of metallic components, the assembly of composite parts is more complicated, owing to their larger dimensions and deviations in shape. In the process the size of the components increases steadily. Because of the simultaneous tightening of the tolerances, geometrically adaptive machining is becoming increasingly important.

Adaptive remilling of parts with overmeasures (sacrificial machining) and the post-machining of contact surfaces to reduce the effort required during the subsequent shimming are typical applications of OpenARMS-PostM.

Repair: Carbon-fiber parts frequently display individual shapes or damage requiring the removal of large areas (scarfing). Carrying out this work by hand is very burdensome. Preparations for a repair can be made automatically via adaptive machining: the part is first scanned and the results are used to adapt the machining strategy.

The BCT solution for taking account of individual part shapes

In contrast to classical manufacturing, adaptive machining takes account of the individual shape of the particular parts in addition to the particular clamping situation. BCT’s systems thus achieve the automatic machining of individual parts. Adaptive machining presupposes knowledge of the nominal situation and the current real situation. The difference between the two serves as an input for calculating an adaptive machining strategy.

The nominal state is usually defined in the CAD/CAM system (1/2). CAD/NC interfaces are available for importing. The openness of the BCT system allows for cooperation with different CAD/CAM systems. Users can always employ the tools most suitable for the particular task.

The actual state (3) is captured either optically or directly by tactile means or measurement values from other systems are read in. The result of the adaptation is an NC program adapted to the position and/or part geometry (4). For automatic machining the BCT solutions can be connected to NC machines or robots with a wide range of controls.

Adaptive machining optimizes the finishing of forged rough parts, for example. The repair of valuable individually shaped parts (e.g. turbine blades) is made possible in the first place by capturing and taking account of the particular geometry. Caution: the adaption is not limited to special manufacturing methods. Next to milling and grinding, we also support generative methods (3D printing) – for example, by adapting the paths for laser fusion welding. In all applications, however, an NC program defined in advance by the customer and BCT remains the starting point for adaptation.