Manufacturing of a high-temperature resistojet heat exchanger by selective laser melting
Manufacturing of a high-temperature resistojet heat exchanger by selective laser melting
The paper presents the design, manufacturing and postproduction analysis of a novel high-temperature spacecraft resistojet heat exchanger manufactured through selective laser melting to validate the manufacturing approach. The work includes the analysis of critical features of a heat exchanger with integrated converging-diverging nozzle as a single piece element. The metrology of the component is investigated using optical analysis and profilometry to verify the integrity of components. A novel process of high-resolution micro-Computed Tomography (CT) is applied as a tool for volumetric non-destructive inspection and conformity since the complex geometry of the thruster does not allow internal examination. The CT volume data is utilised to determine a surface mesh on which a novel perform coordinate measurement technique is applied for nominal/actual comparison and wall thickness analysis. A thin-wall concentric tubular heat exchanger design is determined to meet dimensional accuracy requirements through nominal/actual comparison analysis. The work indicates the production of fine structures with feature sizes below 200 μm in 316L stainless via selective laser melting is feasible and opens up new possibilities for the future developments in multiple industries.
Romei, Federico
2c01d8c3-430b-49f8-9c8c-e30d0d135f89
Grubisic, Angelo
a4cab763-bbc0-4130-af65-229ae674e8c8
Gibbon, Dave
e60476ec-e06b-418d-a71f-bf3a6ae2ecc2
20 June 2017
Romei, Federico
2c01d8c3-430b-49f8-9c8c-e30d0d135f89
Grubisic, Angelo
a4cab763-bbc0-4130-af65-229ae674e8c8
Gibbon, Dave
e60476ec-e06b-418d-a71f-bf3a6ae2ecc2
Romei, Federico, Grubisic, Angelo and Gibbon, Dave
(2017)
Manufacturing of a high-temperature resistojet heat exchanger by selective laser melting.
Acta Astronautica.
(doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.05.020).
Abstract
The paper presents the design, manufacturing and postproduction analysis of a novel high-temperature spacecraft resistojet heat exchanger manufactured through selective laser melting to validate the manufacturing approach. The work includes the analysis of critical features of a heat exchanger with integrated converging-diverging nozzle as a single piece element. The metrology of the component is investigated using optical analysis and profilometry to verify the integrity of components. A novel process of high-resolution micro-Computed Tomography (CT) is applied as a tool for volumetric non-destructive inspection and conformity since the complex geometry of the thruster does not allow internal examination. The CT volume data is utilised to determine a surface mesh on which a novel perform coordinate measurement technique is applied for nominal/actual comparison and wall thickness analysis. A thin-wall concentric tubular heat exchanger design is determined to meet dimensional accuracy requirements through nominal/actual comparison analysis. The work indicates the production of fine structures with feature sizes below 200 μm in 316L stainless via selective laser melting is feasible and opens up new possibilities for the future developments in multiple industries.
Text
AA_2017_60_Revision 1_V1 - Pure
- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 12 April 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 22 May 2017
Published date: 20 June 2017
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 412661
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/412661
ISSN: 0094-5765
PURE UUID: d07f7d68-cd9f-40f8-821f-43002eeed8f8
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Date deposited: 24 Jul 2017 16:34
Last modified: 01 Oct 2024 04:02
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Author:
Dave Gibbon
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