Improving the Predictions of Distortions Throughout the Manufacturing Process of Mechanical Parts for a "One Shot" Industrialization

The high quality design requirements in Airbus Helicopters (AH) dynamic Systems make the mechanical parts more and more complex to manufacture. In order to avoid long cycle and expensive manufacturing development, it is necessary to anticipate the process risks, such as part distortions throughout the manufacturing line. In this work, the predictions of distortions by simulations of different manufacturing processes have been carried out. As a first step, the simulation of a quenching / tempering heat treatment followed by material removal was performed on a helicopter gear in 32CDV13 low alloyed steel using the Sysweld™ software. Numerical results and the experimental measurements of stresses were compared. In addition, a simulation of a rotating swashplate shrinking in aluminum alloy was carried out on the Samcef software. Preliminary numerical results were promising. Similar comparison studies are still needed to validate the software and some developments are also planned for a future full manufacturing line simulation.