OBJECTIVES
Besides de main objective of the project, ALFORAMA aims at several technical, industrial and environmental objectives.
- To design the chemical composition of innovative high strength Al alloy
- To develop a gas atomization process to obtain the desired Al powder
- To define the most critical variables for an optimized SLM process, and the corresponding process control strategy
- To optimize thermal treatment to obtain an alloy with improved mechanical performance and corrosion resistance
- To characterize the manufactured samples according to mechanical static and fatigue testing, metallographic structure and chemical composition, and galvanic compatibility
- To validate the developed Al alloy and heat treatment in a use case
- To design the chemical composition of innovative high strength Al alloy
- To develop a gas atomization process to obtain the desired Al powder
- To develop a mixing process to ensure a suitable powder mixture
- To define the most critical variables for an optimized SLM process, and the corresponding process control strategy
- To contribute to the next generation of high performance and energy efficient Airframe structures with less environmental impact
- To reduce CO2 emissions due to the weight reduction of airframe system parts
Impact
Boosting European Aircraft sector
European Regional Aviation Turnover accounts for €110 Bn as sum of passenger’s revenues, cargo revenues, European aircraft manufacturer’s sales, and services to passengers. Its Impact on European GDP is ≈ 1%. However, with the entry into the market of new regional programs from overseas, the role of European regional aviation industry is likely to become more and more marginal. For this reason there is the need to invest in developing new technologies in order to recover the European global leadership.
Adapting to future demands
The future green regional aircraft will have to meet stringent demands on weight reduction, energy and aerodynamics efficiency, a high level of operative performance, in order to be compliant with the normative regarding pollutant emissions and noise generation levels. To achieve these demanding challenges, the aircraft will be entirely revisited in all of its aspects. Specifically the GRA1 - Low Weight Configuration (LWC), considers all the solutions that may allow for considerable weight reduction, from the improvement of current composite materials with more innovative solutions such as multi-functional Layer and multi-layer architectures that can ensure electric conductivity and lightning resistance and a better acoustic insulation, to the introduction of new lower-density aluminum alloys.
Innovation activities
The current project work plan is structured as a coordinated action through consecutive and interrelated tasks, grouped into work packages (WP) that will be running for 36 months (from 1st July 2017 to 30th June 2020)
Technical WPs comprise from WP1 to WP6. WP1 addresses the definition of innovative alloys feasible by powder technology based on literature survey and theoretical analysis. WP2 and WP3 include new powder manufacturing development and Additive Manufacturing process optimization in order to select the most suitable Al alloy. WP4 is focused on the thermal treatment cycle optimization for mechanical properties improvement and finally, at WP5, innovative Al alloy characterization will be performed to determine the behaviour of the product produced by AM in WP6.
