Janine Liberty | Anne Wilson | Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | Department of Mechanical Engineering
Publication Date:
October 8, 2024
Caption:
A student in Zack Cordero’s Aerospace Materials and Structures Lab works with cutting-edge additive manufacturing equipment.
Credits:
Photo: Jake Belcher
A recent award from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) brings together researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Lehigh University (Lehigh) under the Multiobjective Engineering and Testing of Alloy Structures (METALS) program. The team will research novel design tools for the simultaneous optimization of shape and compositional gradients in multi-material structures that complement new high-throughput materials testing techniques, with particular attention paid to the bladed disk (blisk) geometry commonly found in turbomachinery (including jet and rocket engines) as an exemplary challenge problem.
“This project could have important implications across a wide range of aerospace technologies. Insights from this work may enable more reliable, reusable, rocket engines that will power the next generation of heavy-lift launch vehicles,” says Zachary Cordero, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Associate Professor in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) and the project’s lead principal investigator. “This project merges classical mechanics analyses with cutting-edge generative AI design technologies to unlock the plastic reserve of compositionally graded alloys allowing safe operation in previously inaccessible conditions.”
Different locations in blisks require different thermomechanical properties and performance, such as resistance to creep, low cycle fatigue, high strength, etc. Large scale production also necessitates consideration of cost and sustainability metrics such as sourcing and recycling of alloys in the design.
“Currently, with standard manufacturing and design procedures, one must come up with a single magical material, composition, and processing parameters to meet ‘one part-one material’ constraints,” says Cordero. “Desired properties are also often mutually exclusive prompting inefficient design tradeoffs and compromises.”
Although a one-material approach may be optimal for a singular location in a component, it may leave other locations exposed to failure or may require a critical material to be carried throughout an entire part when it may only be needed in a specific location. With the rapid advancement of additive manufacturing processes that are enabling voxel-based composition and property control, the team sees unique opportunities for leap-ahead performance in structural components are now possible.
