Advantages of Digital Twins in the Production Processes of High Cost Aerospace Components

Abstract

The increasing demand of components with high strength to weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance and high-temperature strength from the aerospace industry require their suppliers to produce complex geometries of hard-to-machine alloys, such as Maragin 250 steel and titanium alloys. Turbo-shafts and landing gear have proven to be the primary components of machining cost contributors, due to their long, thin-walled, tubed geometries, with varying wall thickness and internal surface roughness on the micrometer scale. The internal turning process of these components is inherently difficult to monitor and develop. It takes place behind closed doors, and is a "blind" process where it can be hard to detect detrimental events like chatter, insert breakage or chip jams.

The challenges of cutting these components expresses a demand for increased insight to the internal cutting processes, and improved quality in the planning, execution and control of the cut. To meet this demand, possible advantages of a digital twin in the production processes of high cost aerospace components are investigated. Possible advantages are investigated and identified through literature studies, and face-to-face interviews and discussions with engineers and operators at the aerospace supplier, GKN Aerospace Norway AS, and tool manufacturer, Sandvik Teeness AS.

In addition, how an example of a digital twin can be provided by the sensor embedded tool holder, SilentTool+, developed by Sandvik Teeness AS, to meet the identified advantages are evaluated. The evaluation is performed by analyzing how cutting data, communicated by the SilentTool+, from a variety of cutting strategies, can provide the advantages within the three categories: \textit{Pre-machining}, \textit{In-machining} and \textit{Post-machining}. Finally, the precision of the data communicated by the SilentTool+ is analyzed. The analysis is performed by estimating the time delay, due to data latency, between data acquisition at the sensors in the SilentTool+ and an Industrial Personal Computer.

The results show that there are twelve identified advantages of a digital twin in the production processes of high cost aerospace components, that can be provided by the SilentTool+. It also shows that the time delay, due to latency, is small enough to accurately provide these advantages. Further analysis shows that the producers of the components should exploit the identified advantages. The exploitation allows them to reduce their current inability to monitor and improve the production of the components, due to lack of accessible quality data on their production processes.