An Approach to Detect White Spots during Pre-Turning of DA718 Components

Abstract

The increasing demand for high-performance components is leading to a greater use of advanced alloys such as DA718, which is, e.g., used in engine parts due to its high-temperature strength. The strict quality requirements pose major challenges for the machining of engine components for aircrafts. Quality deviations along the value chain can lead to high costs due to rework and, in the worst case, rejections in order to prevent material failure within a safety-critical environment. These deviations include, e.g., an increased surface roughness, deviations in the shape tolerances as well as increased internal stresses or surface deformations. Material defects are an additional reason to reject the manufactured components. These are usually inspected only at the end of the value chain and—due to measurement limitations—only if they occur close to the surface of the workpiece. Ultrasonic testing is used in order to detect defects near the surface of the raw part. For the evaluation of the finished part, etching and optical inspection of the surface is used. However, defects inside the components cannot be detected in this way. If material defects are located in areas subjected to intense load changes and high temperatures, the components have to be rejected since engine parts require a high level of fatigue strength. Such rejects constitute a significant economic risk, as a large part of the added value has already been completed and a significant amount of machine time has been invested. Thus, an identification of material defects in an earlier stage of the manufacturing process is required. In this paper, fundamental investigations on machining artificially generated material defects in a micro-milling process and the signal analysis during the pre-turning of turbine disks made of nickel-based materials like DA718 will be presented. Based on force measurements, characteristic signals were identified that could indicate material defects during the turning process.