{"id":15632,"date":"2024-10-08T12:02:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T15:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=15632"},"modified":"2024-10-08T12:02:51","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T15:02:51","slug":"el-empleo-de-manufactura-aditiva-en-unidades-logisticas-de-la-us-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=15632","title":{"rendered":"El empleo de manufactura aditiva en unidades log\u00edsticas de la US Air Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

L\u00edderes de la US Air Force y la industria aeron\u00e1utica de ese pa\u00eds, han comprendido los beneficios y el extraordinario futuro que presentan la \u201cManufactura Aditiva\u201d y las tecnolog\u00edas asociadas al \u201c3D Printing\u201d, en el \u00e1rea log\u00edstica de mantenimiento. La posibilidad de fabricar en instalaciones log\u00edsticas propias, piezas de aeronaves cuya obtenci\u00f3n resulta compleja y costosa, es parte de las tareas que realiza la unidad denominada Oklahoma City Air Logistic Center (OC-ALC). La misma lidera el desarrollo de programas que avanzan aceleradamente en la incorporaci\u00f3n de estas capacidades, que revolucionar\u00e1n el ciclo de mantenimiento y sostenimiento de grandes plataformas. Uno de los programas en ejecuci\u00f3n y evaluaci\u00f3n, es el denominado REACT (Reverse Engineering\u00a0<\/strong>And\u00a0Critical<\/strong>\u00a0Tooling),<\/strong>\u00a0enfocado desde hace a\u00f1os en la producci\u00f3n de repuestos que\u00a0no se encuentran comercialmente disponibles en la actualidad.<\/p>\n

\n

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla.<\/strong>\u2014Air Force leaders and industry officials have long\u00a0extolled the benefits<\/a>\u00a0of additive manufacturing, promising a future where maintainers use 3D printing technology to manufacture replacement parts faster than they can be shipped across the world.<\/p>\n

Now, a small group of engineers, technicians, and machinists here are moving that additive manufacturing technology out of the future and into the present.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201cnot because we\u2019re just saying, \u2018Hey, this has potential in the future,\u2019\u201d Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center technical director Eric Bartlow told Air & Space Forces Magazine during an August visit. \u201cWe grow with our customer need in that area. And so is it bleeding edge? We\u2019ve been doing 3D-printing since the \u201970s. I think the rest of the world is kind of catching up, and you\u2019ll continue to see that scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across more than 8 million square feet of industrial floor and office space, more than 9,000 personnel work at the OC-ALC, where welding and wrench-turning are still the norm. But an increasing number of programs\u2014collectively dubbed an \u201cinnovation ecosystem\u201d<\/a>\u2014are now applying these techniques to breath new life into aging aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use the term \u2018tired iron\u2019 a lot out here,\u201d said Clay Jordan, chief engineer for a program called PROACT. \u201cWe have some really old \u2018tired iron\u2019 that we are trying to bring back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming into Its Own\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brig. Gen. Brian R. Moore, commander of the OC-ALC, says this shift is\u00a0the result of years of work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Bartlow and the team have been thinking about digital transformation and what that means for an industrial complex, probably before I came over in 2018 and 2019,\u201d Moore said. \u201cBut really you can see the manifestation of it in the last six years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case in point: The Reverse Engineering and Critical Tooling (REACT) program, which started several years ago to produce parts that aren\u2019t commercially available anymore. REACT started small but now comprises a team of 50 that has become the Air Force Center of Excellence for advanced manufacturing.<\/p>\n

REACT offices display examples of that transformation: Scanners that map and model the shapes of products ranging from small parts to entire aircraft; digital design tools used to process and refine scans; and more than a dozen additive production systems, high-end 3D printers that can \u201cprint\u201d using materials ranging from resin to cobalt chrome.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Paul Greenway, with the 76th Commodities Maintenance Group\u2019s R.E.A.C.T Cell, made and provided the CAD drawings for the mechanics to cut and form the keel beam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The B-1 bomber is among REACT\u2019s greatest success stories. A plastic panel in the crew compartment might have taken five years to replace using conventional contracting processes; REACT reverse- engineered the panel produced test products, and now produces replacements for the entire fleet, said flight chief Kyle Taylor.\u00a0Now REACT is now producing other parts for the BONE cockpit, replacing honeycomb composite materials that degraded over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve leaned forward a lot with additive,\u201d Taylor said of the B-1 program office. \u201cAnd because of that, they\u2019ve kind of pulled the whole Air Force along with them. Others [system program offices] come over here and they see all these B-1 panels that we\u2019re printing, and they say, \u2018Oh, we have little switches and knobs and things, and we haven\u2019t really implemented additive as much as B-1 has.\u2019 So because B-1 has kind of led the way, other weapon systems can get the benefits of the testing they\u2019ve done, and the approval processes they\u2019ve gone through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The results are stark: 12,000 parts in back orders.<\/p>\n

REACT\u2019s bank of polymer 3D printers are \u201cjust churning out parts consistently,\u201d said Taylor, operating at a continuous, dull whine.<\/p>\n

Said Moore: \u201cEvery jet that comes to Tinker for depot maintenance is getting around 200 polymer parts put on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going Upscale\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Additive repair is another area of emphasis: PROACT, the Process, Repair, Operations, and Critical Tooling program,\u00a0employs 40 specialists for engine repair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing additive for repair for decades now, through things like thermal spray and weld repairs, where you build up material on wear surfaces,\u201d said Blake Grimwood, the engineering section chief for PROACT. \u201cWe\u2019re just using the newer technologies that people think of as additive manufacturing, as opposed to the legacy ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

One new technology is directed energy deposition, in which a laser melts a metal or metal powder and deposits the material onto a surface for precise welding, and cold spray, in which metal powder is applied without heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re able to look at the problem and say, \u2018this is the wear condition we\u2019re seeing, these are the types of repairs we do for this wear condition. OK, what\u2019s the right approach?\u2019 And if we can\u2019t figure out a right approach, then that gives us an opportunity to say, \u2018Let\u2019s go find a new technology to solve this,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. \u2014 Blake Grimwood, the Process, Repair, Operations and Critical Tooling section chief at the Oklahoma City Air Logistic Complex, briefs members of the Leadership Moore program on PROACT\u2019s capabilities during their tour of Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, Jan. 11. Leadership Moore is a program organized by the Moore Chamber of Commerce that offers opportunities for leaders from the business, government, and not-for-profit sectors to discover the inner workings of their community and challenges facing the region. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Carter Denton)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The goal, he added, is not just to find the most advanced possible tech, but rather the most sustainable and useful over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because we develop a new repair doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t have the old repair as well, if that\u2019s needed for capacity,\u201d he noted. \u201cBut a lot of these repairs are faster and more consistent, so we can fit more into a timeframe if needed.\u201d\u00a0PROACT also has a team of tool designers who create tooling needed to facilitate each particular repair.<\/p>\n

REACT is also expanding into metal 3D printing and is even casting its own parts\u2014a necessity in an era when commercial sourcing for small volumes of unique products is prohibitive or even impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we can pour 120 pounds of aluminum. So what we can do is take our knowledge in\u00a0reverse engineering and modeling, you can bring us a part, we reverse engineer the whole thing,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWe\u2019ll come up with three or four different designs that we think will work, print all of them, pour all the hot metal into them and see which one came out best. We can work with the materials lab here on base. We can give them parts. They can chop up all the parts and say, this one has the lowest porosity, this is your best pour. And then we can just 3D print however many molds we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurdles\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

REACT and PROACT leaders say excitement over additive manufacturing does not make it the right solution for every need. \u201cWe have an additive expert \u2026 and I joke that about half of his job is saying no to additive parts,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s going to take you longer, it\u2019s going to be more expensive. Additive is just another tool in your toolbox,\u201d not the answer for every problem.<\/p>\n

Bureaucratic hurdles are another issue. Approval processes and procedures haven\u2019t all caught up to new manufacturing methods. \u201cAirworthiness certification right now is definitely a challenge the whole Air Force is seeing,\u201d said Taylor. \u201cLeadership knows that\u2019s a barrier we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standardizing new \u201cinspection criteria on those metal parts, think about them in terms of risk and safety factors\u201d is still a work in process. The Air Force, Moore said, needs \u201cto be able to close that gap and bring the future faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some cases, new repair technology not only meets an existing specification, Taylor said, but it can also be a better solution for the long-term integrity of the part. \u201cFor instance, if I could weld repair something in the past with the gold gas tungsten arc welding, I can also do the [directed energy deposition] repair, but now I\u2019m putting less heat, I\u2019m not warping parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each new advance opens up new possibilities, experts say. Just having the tools in place opens the aperture on future applications.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the stuff,\u201d Barlow said. \u201cMore importantly, we\u2019ve got the people. We have the intellectual capability to do anything. If a human can think it through, we can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuente: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.airandspaceforces.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L\u00edderes de la US Air Force y la industria aeron\u00e1utica de ese pa\u00eds, han comprendido los beneficios y el extraordinario futuro que presentan la \u201cManufactura… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,37,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15636,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15632\/revisions\/15636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}