May 23, 2012

New Aerospace Technologies from EWI

Brian BishopBusiness Development Manager – Aerospace614-270-7052bbishop@ewi.org

Update on LPS Activities

Advances in Laser Paint Stripping

Stan Ream Laser Technology LeaderEWI614-688-5092sream@ewi.org

Another way to scan a beam- polygon scanner by EWI and CWA -

Up to 50 m/s scan speed All reflective optics One moving part Constant scan velocity across scan width

Constant velocity across scan width

EWI Scanner, Patent Pending

Rotating Polygonal Mirror

Laser Beam Source

Polygon “Beta” Scanner- “COTS” availability from WTT -

More robust Contamination resistant

Servo Drive

Protective “door”

Water cooling

Single body component

Patent Pending

Why the polygon scanner works

Scan speed reduces flame height Reduced flame height reduces beam interference Reduced flame height improves effluent removal Reduced flame height supports cleaner combustion Reduced flame height permits better vision

High speed video (approximately 300X ) with diode laser illumination

Need for process control- more important for shorter wavelength -

Paint thickness is not constant Undocumented paint layers may exist Overlap between passes cannot be assured

System Considerations

LPS of component parts can be relatively simple Many off-aircraft components are candidates

White, Commercial Aircraft?- fiber lasers not a productive option -

Repositionable robot platform for CO2 laser Technically feasible but not an attractive solution

LaserChillerExhaustFiltrationControls

Mobile CO2 LPS Platform?- we’ll never know if we don’t ask -

Large mobile platforms are commercially available Many questions about laser tolerance to motion

Image from SwRI

Literally “out of the box” concept- CO2 laser pitch-catch system -

CO2 beam guided and “guarded” by multiple safety beams

Yeah, probably too far out for aircraft

But, maybe not too far out for a tougher class of transportation

- CO2 laser pitch-catch system -

Summary Novel brazing approach developed for silicon carbide joining

Material has a low neutron cross section and is stable at temperatures >1200C

Forms unique composite microstructure

Preliminary reactor testing at OSURR, a fast fluence (E> 0.1 MeV) of 1E18 n/cm2, or 1E22 n/m2

EWI process does not require high pressure ─ Other approaches for SiC brazing require high pressures of 30-40 MPa

or more; fuel clad tubes are only 1cm in diameter and have thin wall thickness

─ This provides key advantage in manufacturability to other competitor processes

Patent Pending: Provisional Application #61/538,409 “Method for Joining Ceramic Bodies to One Another”

Questions

Brian BishopBusiness Development Manager –

Aerospace614-270-7052

bbishop@ewi.org