Design and simulation of a bearing housing aerospace component from titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) for additive manufacturing

Abstract

In evaluating emerging technology, such as additive manufacturing, it is important to analyse the impact of the manufacturing process on efficiency in an objective and quantifiable manner. This study deals with the design and simulation of a bearing housing made from titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) using the selective laser melting (SLM) technique. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method was used for assessing the suitability of Ti6Al4V for aerospace application. The choice of Ti6Al4V is due to the comparative advantage of its strength-to-weight ratio. The implicit and explicit modules of the Abaqus software were employed for the non-linear and linear analyses of the component part. The results obtained revealed that the titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) sufficiently meets the design, functional and service requirements of the bearing housing component produced for aerospace application. The designed bearing is suitable for a high speed and temperature application beyond 1900 K, while the maximum stress induced in the component during loading was 521 kPa. It is evident that the developed stresses do not result in a distortion or deformation of the material with yield strength in the region of 820 MPa. This work provides design data for the development of a bearing housing for AM under the technique of SLM using Ti6Al4V by reflecting the knowledge of the material behaviour under the operating conditions.