The Journey with Large AM Titanium Parts (1 Ton Class) Material Properties, Testing, and Lessons Learned

Conference Abstract: The aerospace industry is primarily driven by cost, the level of system performance, and development schedule. Today, emerging customer requirements for more complex systems with higher performance is driving the industry to respect Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a solution to reduce the schedule for large parts. In this presentation, we provide a case study of producing 1 ton class near-net shape parts in Titanium 6Al-4V using electron beam wire directed energy deposition. The presentation will summarize the development stages required, materials testing methods as well as results, and inspection. Finally, we will provide some observations and lessons learned on the overall journey.