significant data of the slotting

production for developing the

two unconventional technolo-

gies are allocated. The results

and developments are prepared

and published by the

“Training, Dissemination,

Exploitation and Impact on EU

-Industry” work package. Par-

ticularly the new ADMAP-

G A S w e b s i t e

(www.ADMAPGAS.com) can

be highlighted as the informa-

tion platform where the actual

project state is always retriev-

able.

The ADMAP-GAS manage-

ment team welcomes all

readers to the first project

newsletter. Please find the

latest information on the

project enclosed.

Due to a high increase of mar-

ket demand for gas-engine

turbines in the aircraft indus-

try, efficient manufacturing

processes for the turbine com-

ponents are increasingly nec-

essary. The rising standard for

individual and adapted product

solutions leads to an increased

demand for efficient, reliable

and additional flexible manu-

facturing technologies accord-

ing to the turbine parts.

The ADMAP-GAS project

develops new Unconventional

Advanced Manufacturing

Processes for Gas-Engine Tur-

bine Components in order to

substitute the critical conven-

tional broaching process for fir

tree profiles that connect rotat-

ing blades and disks. There-

fore, the two manufacturing

technologies “High Speed

Wire-EDM Slotting” and

“Abrasive Water Jet Slotting”

will be developed, optimised

and evaluated, highlighting

their individual performance

and effectiveness for the ma-

chining task.

For this proposition the AD-

MAP-GAS project follows a

carefully designed way

wherein all partners have their

defined tasks. The two techni-

cal aspects (mentioned above)

- defined in WP1 and WP2-

are supported by the “Process

Evaluation, Integration and

Data Management” work

package, whereby the common

broaching process of fir trees

is analysed. Furthermore, the

Welcome to ADMAP-GAS!

The ADMAP-GAS Consortium

The ADMAP-GAS consortium

includes eight partners (2

world leading industrial part-

ners, 3 SME’s, 1 research in-

stitution and 2 outstanding

higher education partners)

from five European countries:

Laboratory for Machine

Tools and Production Engi-

neering (WZL) of RWTH

Aachen University;

University of Sheffield

Advanced Manufacturing

Research Centre;

The AMRC Limited;

DIAD Group;

TEKS SARL;

Charmilles Technologies

SA;

Berkenhoff GmbH;

Oelheld GmbH

ADMAP-GAS Pro-

ject Details

CALL IDENTIFIER:

FP7 AAT-2008-RTD-

1

GRANT AGREE-

MENT NO.: 234325

START DATE:

01/08/2009

DURATION: 36

Months

TOTAL BUDGET:

€4,323,946.00

EC CONTRIBUTION:

€2,883,657.00

ISSUE 1

Inside this issue:

Breaking New

Ground

2

The Development

of Abrasive Water

Jet Machining

2

The Development

of High-Speed

Wire-EDM

3

Development of

Dielectric for

Wire-EDM

3

Advantages and

disadvantages of

broaching proc-

ess

4

Minimum needs

and requirements

of the ADMAP –

GAS technology

4

The objective of ADMAP-

GAS is to substitute the critical

broaching process of fir tree

structures in gas turbine blades

and disks by the alternative

processes of “Abrasive Water

Jet Slotting” and “High Speed

Wire Electro Discharge Slot-

ting”. Thus failure risks and

machining costs will be drasti-

cally decreased. Energy con-

sumption will be reduced and

environment will be preserved.

New developments and adapta-

tions in generator technology

and process control will allow

a much higher cutting rate

during Wire-EDM in combina-

tion with a nearly damage free

rim zone. This High Speed

Wire-EDM & Abrasive Water

Jet Machining process will

allow to economically produce

fir tree profiles for blades and

disks in titanium- and nickel-

based super alloys. All these

characteristics result in less

production costs and higher

process reliability for the

whole production of turbine

components. With the proper

data management that will be

developed during this project,

the machines will be able to be

programmed for different ge-

ometries taking advantage of

their CNC flexibility, using

knowledge based manufactur-

ing technologies in which the

properties of both processes

can be used for the efficient,

cheaper and environmentally

safe production of gas turbine

components.

Breaking New Ground

The Development of Abrasive Water Jet Machining

key process parameters. Ex-

periments will be carried out

with the factors that had an

impact in the quality of the

surfaces machined. The data

collected can be then used to

build a mathematical model of

the system which can help

predict outputs and optimise

the parameters.

Research is also being carried

out on a control system.

Acoustic sensors are being

used to provide feedback in

form of acoustic emissions

generated during the cutting

process. The signal can be

analysed to create a relation-

ship between the acoustic

emission and the quality of cut.

Improvements on the water jet

capabilities are being investi-

gated by studying the nozzle

dynamics and re-designing the

cutting head. It is envisaged

that the new cutting head with

have a maximum location error

of 5 microns

Research has been carried out

characterising the abrasive

water jet machine to produce

fir-tree like geometry in In-

conel 718. The aim is to un-

derstand how the different

machining parameters such as

water pressure, stand-off dis-

tance, orifice diameter, abra-

sive material, etc. affect the

quality of the surfaces pro-

duced with respect to surface

roughness, tolerances and mi-

crostructural aspects.

Once the system is understood,

the next step is to optimise the

Page 2 ADMAP-GAS

Development of Dielectric for Wire-EDM

For the project, this means to optimise

the tailored product specifically to the

interaction of dielectric, additive, ma-

chine components and wire. Over the

next 6 months a series of experiments

will be conducted at the oelheld site to

optimise operational parameters of the

process.

In this task oelheld is supported by the

partner WZL with the Inconel material,

the partner Berkenhoff supplies wire and

the partner Charmilles is responsible for

the machine.

Initial results from the first tests of dif-

ferent dielectrics showed an increase of

the cutting speed.

The partner oelheld (as a manufacturer of

dielectrics) is trying to find a dielectric,

which meets the requirements of the

industry.

An appropriate dielectric avoids damage

to the surface of the material. Additional

goals are image fidelity (precise radii,

verticality), low surface roughness and

thin influenced /contaminated layers.

To achieve these aims, not only will the

dielectric be varied, but also certain addi-

tives can / will be used. Thus, the goals

are to find the best dielectric, to mini-

mise surface damage and to use an addi-

tive to achieve a passable speed.

ISSUE 1 Page 3

At the beginning of the project an impor-

tant task with the topic “Definition and

process analysis towards the targeted

application” has been carried out. For the

researches on Wire-EDM the manufac-

turing requirements on the final fir tree

compose the basis. In detail the results

include requirements on the surface in-

tegrity, surface roughness, manufactur-

ing tolerances as well as fir tree geome-

tries and geometrical aspects of the

boundary area of turbine discs. For the

researches a typical turbine material was

fixed: Inconel 718. The good mechanical

properties of this material in high tem-

perature ranges are on the one hand very

good for turbine application on the other

hand complicate these properties cutting

with conventional manufacturing proc-

esses. With this basis the four technical

tasks concerning development of High-

Speed Wire-EDM started their re-

searches:

modification of machine tool;

development of new wires;

new dielectrics and additives

technology optimisation and process

monitoring

The researches and developments done

in the first half of the project contain so

far the following topics. Firstly two com-

mon Wire-EDM machines were rebuilt

so that water- and oil-based dielectrics

could be handled. These machines were

put into operation and provide the basis

for trials. Furthermore special technolo-

gies and nozzles for flushing were tested

to reach the given requirements. In the

The Development of High-Speed Wire-EDM

field of wire developments electrodes

were proved to reach high cutting rates,

good surfaces and a minimised affected

rim zone. In addition new dielectrics and

additives for water- and oil-based dielec-

trics were developed. In the actual state

of the project the first results predict a

positive outcome of the project. Not only

high cutting rates but also thin affected

rim zones will be the fundament to come

into competition with the common

broaching process to produce fir trees.

The next step in the project concerning

High-speed Wire-EDM will be to con-

tinue the promising researches. In addi-

tion a process monitoring system will be

set up to characterise the process.

Broaching still presents many

important industrial advan-

tages, for example low tooling

and consumables cost per disk

produced, high tool life, rough-

ing and finishing in one stroke

with excellent geometrical and

surface quality, good process

reliability and repeatability,

limited need of human garrison

during cutting. However, the

initial investment (ie machine

tool cost & the number of

broaches to be purchased), the

necessary maintenance costs,

and the considerable floor

space requirements can be

extremely onerous. In addition,

the disks fixturing is complex

and inflexible and long time is

required to set up and change

over for different part num-

bers. The energy consumption

during the broaching process is

relatively high because of the

high cutting forces, whereas

the cycle time is the double

than the other processes, mak-

ing broaching the “bottleneck”

of the turbine disks production.

Furthermore, the situation is

no better for tooling: each fir

tree geometry requires a spe-

cific broach, the purchase price

of single tool is very high,

maintenance costs are relevant

and the lead-time is long. The

tool wear is inhomogeneous

due to chip thickness varia-

tions at the different tooth and

the worn tool substitution, and

in addition, the new tools setup

takes considerable time. It is

for these reasons that the aero-

nautical industry is looking for

new competing processes in

substitution of broaching.

Evaluation of Disadvantages/Advantages of Current Broaching Process

Integrated on the Aeronautic Production Lines

Definition of Minimum Needs/Requirements for New Processes to be

Competitive with Broaching

bility, low tooling costs per

part, reduced need of human

garrison during cutting. More-

over, it is important to under-

stand that the broaching proc-

ess can generate different fir

tree geometries by a simple

(but expensive!) change of the

cutting tool, the broach, with-

out any change of the broach-

ing machine itself.

In the ADMAP-GAS Project,

two different and competing

(!) technologies are developed,

tested and validated. This will

significantly increase the pos-

sibility of a successful substi-

tution for the broaching proc-

ess; in fact, three solutions will

be potentially available: Abra-

sive Water Jet Machining,

High Speed Wire-EDM or an

intelligent process combination

and integration of the two

processes developed.

The first stage of the project

will be to research and analyse

both Abrasive Water Jet Ma-

chining, High Speed Wire-

EDM. The second stage (M18)

will involve various trials on

the defined case studies. The

information gathered will al-

low comparisons to be made

against the current broaching

process. The best solution(s)/

will be presented at the end of

the project.

For the newly developed proc-

esses to be competitive with

broaching, it needs / requires

greater levels of productivity /

economic investment, higher

flexibility (in terms of lower

time and cost) for changing

component type, reduced time,

frequency and cost of worn

tools substitution, tools /

machine setup, consumables

refill and maintenance, lower

energy consumption and envi-

ronmental impact.

The innovative processes must

retain the positive attributes of

the current broaching process,

in terms of quality, reliability,

repeatability, slot length capa-

Page 4 ADMAP-GAS

ADMAP-GAS is a collaborative project of the Seventh

Framework Programme of the European Commission.

ADMAP-GAS addresses the relevance to the call by the

“development of techniques for increased flexible tooling”

for the manufacture of gas turbine components.

USFD have

contributed to the

press release, and

had some

publicity for

ADMAP-GAS in the

July 2010 issue of

Aerospace

International,

which was

distributed at the

Farnborough air-

show.

And Finally...

Dr Rosemary Gault

Project Manager

r.gault@shef.ac.uk

+44 7798 570 599

Mr David Welling

Project Co-ordinator

D.Welling@wzl.rwth-aachen.de

+49-241-80-28039

ADMAP-GAS Contact

Details

Mr Drazen Veselovac

Project Co-ordination

D.Veselovac@wzl.rwth-aachen.de

+49-241-80-27432

Find us on the Web!

www.ADMAPGAS.com

Important Dates:

18 month meeting in Geneva on 02nd

March 2011

ADMAP-GAS Wire-EDM Demonstrator

will be presented on ICTM, Aachen on

23.-24. February 2011— www.ictm-

aachen.com

ADMAP-GAS Wire-EDM Demonstrator

will be presented on AWK, Aachen on

26.-27. May 2011 - www.awk-

aachen.de

Page 5