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Additive Manufacturing Design Considerations for Liquid Engine ComponentsThe Marshall Space Flight Center's Propulsion Systems Department has gained significant experience in the last year designing, building, and testing liquid engine components using additive manufacturing. The department has developed valve, duct, turbo-machinery, and combustion device components using this technology. Many valuable lessons were learned during this process. These lessons will be the focus of this presentation. We will present criteria for selecting part candidates for additive manufacturing. Some part characteristics are 'tailor made' for this process. Selecting the right parts for the process is the first step to maximizing productivity gains. We will also present specific lessons we learned about feature geometry that can and cannot be produced using additive manufacturing machines. Most liquid engine components were made using a two-step process. The base part was made using additive manufacturing and then traditional machining processes were used to produce the final part. The presentation will describe design accommodations needed to make the base part and lessons we learned about which features could be built directly and which require the final machine process. Tolerance capabilities, surface finish, and material thickness allowances will also be covered. Additive Manufacturing can produce internal passages that cannot be made using traditional approaches. It can also eliminate a significant amount of manpower by reducing part count and leveraging model-based design and analysis techniques. Information will be shared about performance enhancements and design efficiencies we experienced for certain categories of engine parts.
Document ID
20140016502
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Whitten, Dave (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Hissam, Andy (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Baker, Kevin (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Rice, Darron (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
November 20, 2014
Publication Date
September 3, 2014
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
M14-3851
Meeting Information
Meeting: Joint Army NASA Navy Air Force (JANNAF) Liquid Propulsion Subcommittee and Advanced Materials Panel Additive Manufacturing for Propulsion Applications Technical Interchange Meeting
Location: Huntsville, AL
Country: United States
Start Date: September 3, 2014
End Date: September 5, 2014
Sponsors: Department of the Navy, NASA Headquarters, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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