RAWFEED - Rolling Assisted Wire Feed Direct Deposition for Production of High Value Aerospace Components

The RAWFEED project is a collaboration between EADS Innovation Works, Airbus, Delcam, Cranfield University and the University of Bath. The consortium are developing and validating the performance of the required sub-system hardware and software to enable a wire feed additive manufacturing (AM) process utilising wire arc welding deposition combined with in-process rolling.
This will enable the production of titanium parts with acceptable performance for aerospace applications, while ensuring minimal distortion and high material utilisation efficiency. The combination of wire based deposition and mechanical rolling to refine microstructure and minimise distortion is a novel approach which is capable of enabling material properties that meet or exceed those of aerospace forgings. The resulting process has the potential to reduce material waste in the production of large titanium parts by 70% while retaining the required level of quality and performance for use in safety critical applications.