Analysis of automotive component design for reparation using additive manufacturing technology

Abstract

Remanufacturing is the most value added end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recovery strategy in which remanufacturable components referred to as cores, are returned to their next life cycle in as new-condition. Remanufacturing which involved several important steps namely disassembly, cleaning, inspection, repair, reassembly and testing are normally carried out by skilled and experienced workers. Advanced additive manufacturing technology is capable of alleviating limitations in the manual repair and restoration of end-of-life cores. However, there are several challenges in the restoration process such as limited accessibility to the inner diameter of parts, the presence of grooves, sharp edges and corners, as well as limitations in the types of materials used as filler powder and design that does not facilitate restoration using AM process. To date, there are limited reports on how products should be designed for restoration using AM and also on the capabilities of AM to conduct various kinds of restoration on ELV cores. This paper presented and discussed common modes of failure in selected remanufacturable automotive components and the challenges in repairing these components using conventional methods in a local service company. The design of the components were studied in relation to the capability of Direct Energy Deposition technique for automated repair and restoration. Further, this study should be able to pave the way for the establishment of design guidelines for ease of repair and restoration using AM for product life cycle extension.