Analysis of Energy and Material Consumption for the Manufacturing of an Aeronautical Tooling: An Experimental Comparison between Pure Machining and Big Area Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) has been fully incorporated into both the academic and the industrial world. This technology has been shown to lower costs and environmental impacts. Moreover, AM-based technologies, such as wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), have been proven suitable for the manufacturing of large products with significant mechanical requirements. This study examines the manufacture of two aeronautical toolings: first, using conventional techniques, and second, using a big area additive manufacturing (BAAM) process, specifically WAAM technology, followed by second-stage hybrid machining. Both toolings can be considered interchangeable in terms of design and performance. Energy and material consumption were analysed and compared throughout both tooling procedures. The results show the important optimisation of both procedures in manufacturing WAAM tooling, encompassing the additive process and second-stage hybrid machining. Nevertheless, the time required for WAAM tooling manufacturing increased significantly compared to conventional manufacturing tooling. Moreover, based on metrology data from the AM process, a theoretical study was conducted to assess different design optimisations for WAAM tooling manufacturing and determine their influence on material and energy consumption. These theoretical results improve those already obtained regarding energy and raw material savings.