Clamping of thin-walled curved workpieces and Distortions in aeronautical structural parts

Advance in the Case Study 2.2 Clamping of thin-walled curved workpieces

The case study 2.2 covers one experiment within the INTEFIX project. This application is proposed by TYC (Strojirna Tyc, s.r.o.) and it deals with the reduction of deformation of the thin-walled aerospace part due to clamping forces. The clamping force should be set with respect to the workpiece stiffness that decrease during machining. The participants in this case study include the following companies: TYC, ROEMHELD and RCMT. The objectives of the task are development of an integrated intelligent fixture point and a thickness sensor.

The main problems are related to the machining of the bottom side of the part. All mentioned issue are related to the decreasing of the part stiffness during machining:

  • The workpiece is locally deformed if the clamping force is not properly reduced with respect to the workpiece stiffness.
  • The workpiece is locally deformed within the vacuum sucker area during clamping if the vacuum clamping force is not properly reduced.
  • The number and position of the clamping points and support points is limited due to their outer dimensions.

 

Advance in the Case Study 2.3 Distortions in aeronautical structural parts

The objectives of this work package can be summarized in the following points:

  • Develop intelligent fixtures which can be applied to a wide range of aeronautical structural parts. This fixation system will be based on fixtures with capability to apply displacements and forces before each machining so as to minimize the residual stresses and distortion of the part. For doing this, a residual stresses and distortion model able to predict the behavior of the sample in function of the machining strategy is being developed. The prediction of this model will be the inputs for these intelligent fixtures.
  • New process and fixtures to avoid the need of chemical clamping.

As a result, the intelligent fixture will be able to reduce the deformation and its variability and will be able to reduce the setting time for avoiding chemical clamps.

 

Project:
INTEFIX

Sector
Intelligent Fixtures

Keywords