Partnership for Innovations for Laser-Based
Manufacturing and Material Processing
Purdue University and Northwestern University
Mechanical Engineering
PI: Yung C. Shin
Co PIs: Leah Jamieson, Jian Cao
NSF Award #IIP- 0917936
2 Year Award
Start Date: 1 Sept. 2009
Key Attributes of our
Innovation Ecosystem:
Brief Project Overview:
LASER-ASSISTED MACHINING
OF CERAMICS
The project is to bring innovations in laser-based
manufacturing and materials processing through partnerships
between Purdue University, Northwestern University and
private industrial companies in the US. The research will
provide a useful understanding on laser-material interaction,
which is a common problem for other laser processes.
Therefore, an improved understanding of laser processing of
materials will contribute to the overall advancement of the
laser processing field. The partnerships will facilitate
technology innovations and implementation, and provide
education and training of future necessary workforce, which
will strengthen the regional and national economies.
Questioning & Curiosity:
Picture or
Logo from
your project
here
• Can we prolong the life of an engineering product
without using more expensive materials?
• How can reduce energy consumption in mechanical
systems?
Risk Taking:
Laser-assisted machining
of silicon nitride
(Photo by Michaela Black)
• Early innovative technologies to innovations
Laser-assisted Machining
• For aerospace and biomedical industries, new processes
will typically require a new certification. However, this is
much less risk than changing the material.
• Investing time and money into commercialization of
developed technologies with unproven market
Program Activities:
Difficult-to-machine
Materials
Openness:
Laser surface texturing
Laser-assisted Machining
Machined Surface
The list of workpiece materials applied
by LAM:
Experimental procedure and data, simulation parameter
setup and simulation results are shared openly with
Industrial partners. Our industrial partners are also
actively participating at the planning stage.
Laser surface texturing
2 mm
 Advanced ceramics
Silicon Nitride
Zirconia
Mullite
Conventional
LAM
Surface integrity improves during
LAM of Waspaloy
Objective: to reduce friction through laser surface texturing.
Approach: 1) Numerical simulations yielded an optimal pattern,
2) Selected process parameters based on simulation results.
Status: Performance test at Baker Hughes is planned in the phase 2 of this project
 Difficult-to-machine metals
Nickel-based superalloys: such as
Inconel 718 and Waspaloy
Hardened steel
Titanium alloys
CGI, P550, MP35N and many
others
Collaboration Across Fields:
• Collaboration with orthopedic companies and
biomedical researchers (Purdue)
Laser surface texturing
Section view of a silicon nitride part
produced by Laser-assisted Milling
• Broader interactions with materials programs at other
institutions (Tennessee, U. of Wisconsin)
Laser direct Deposition
Textured
drill bits
Precise Deep Hole Drilling
Laser Deposition Modeling
Advantage of femtosecond laser:
• 3D deposition profile
and temperature
distribution with cross
sections in both the
track (Stellite 6) and
substrate (Steel1018)
• Scanning speed 4mm/s
• Powder feedrate 3
g/min
• Gaussian Nd-YAG
laser beam, power 550
W
Objective: to prolong the life of drill bits through laser surface texturing.
Approach: 1) Designed a precise fixture for a rigid mounting concentric to the
axis of rotation of the positioning system.
2) Selected process parameters based on simulation results.
Status: the drill bits will be tested at Boeing in the phase 2 of this project
 Small thermal damage
 Low ablation threshold
a
b
Laser Hardening
INDUSTRIAL WORK
•
The hole drilled in steel by 16000 pulses.
(0.6mJ per pulse, target thickness: 0.76mm)
(a)entrance of the hole, diameter: 82.1 μm,
(b) exit of the hole, diameter: 74.0 μm
(c) side view of the entrance
Hip Implant Fabrication
by Direct Laser Deposition
Maximum case depth of crankshaft journal
groove found to be 1.10mm with 8X12mm laser
beam, confirmed by testing.
The model then predicted a case depth of
1.75mm with a laser beam size of 8X55mm.
Modeled geometry
Deposition Process
Phase profile
(bright green shows martensite)
• Laser-assisted machining system development with partner
companies for commercial and military applications.
Case Hardness Profile for Experiments 1 and 2
60
Hardness (HRC)
50
Actual work piece
AISI 1536 Steel
40
30
Parameters
20
Predicted
Spindle Speed: 0.8 RPM
10
Incident Angle: 20 degrees
Offset: 0.65 mm
Measured (experiment 2)
Measured (experiment 1)
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Depth from Surface (mm)
Northwestern University
Nanohmics
1. Laser-assisted machining of advanced materials: from R&D to industrial
implementation
Leading/Inspiring for Surprising
or Unexpected Results
2. Development of novel processes for directly fabricating bioimplants
3. Comprehensive predictive modeling for laser direct deposition processes
for process optimization
PolarOnyx
Baker Hughes
•
Effective and improved fabrication of bio-implants by
laser direct deposition
•
Improving ductility of bulk metallic glass materials by
Laser Shock Peening
4. Successful surface texturing
Top Challenges:
Ford
Creare
Lockheed Martin
1. Overcoming the barrier of perceptions
General Electric Aviation
2. Tough economic situation for industry to
venture into new technology arenas
Boeing
• Collaborations between universities and industries have been
focusing on transforming research results into new
engineering practices in each of those companies for surface
modifications.
Top Contributions:
Partners:
Purdue University
Placing Partners in “New
Environments” & “Playgrounds”:
• The collaboration between Purdue and Northwestern
connected the missing line between simulation of laser
peening operation and fatigue life prediction. Simulations,
therefore, have been placed at the front stage of a design
process.
c
•
• Collaborations were achieved through fields, such as
solid mechanics, manufacturing, computational
mechanics.
PFI
.
National Science Foundation Partnerships For Innovation
Grantee’s Meeting April 25-27, 2010
Arlington, VA
.
.