POTENTIAL APPLICATION AND CERTIFICATION OF LASER CLADDING TECHNOLOGY FOR REPAIR OF AGEING AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS

摘要

In-service damage from corrosion, wear or debrisrnimpact is increasingly common with ageing militaryrnaircraft fleets. Maintenance of this type of “ageingrndamage” can be expensive and have significant impactrnon fleet availability. DSTO (Defence Science andrnTechnology Organisation) and DMTC (DefencernMaterials Technology Centre) are looking at a numberrnof surface modification/or repair technologies that canrnbe used on an opportunity basis to restore geometry orrnrestore the life of an aircraft component. The basis ofrnthe technology selection was that there should be lowrnrisk with the technology, and the risk is in developingrnan approved process for the application to aircraft.rnWith the advent of small high-powered lasers, laserrncladding (LC) is one of the surface modificationrntechnologies examined. It uses a high-powered laserrnbeam to melt a deposited layer of material onto arnsubstrate. Laser cladding could offer significantrnthrough-life cost savings, as a repair alternative to thernreplacement of damaged components. DSTO andrnDMTC have demonstrated that laser claddingrntechnology could potentially be used to repair orrnrefurbish a range of different damaged components.rnThis paper briefly summaries the current research workrnon laser cladding of 7xxx series aluminum alloys andrndiscusses potential applications and a certification pathrnfor repair of aircraft components in the near future.