Method and apparatus for remedying a non-conforming feature of an aluminum alloy part

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11618067-B2
Application number	US-201916587660-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2019
Priority date	Sep 30, 2019
Publication date	Apr 4, 2023
Grant date	Apr 4, 2023

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to remedying a non-conforming feature of an aluminum alloy part. A method may include identifying a yield strength as a function of temperature for a designation of the aluminum alloy part, determining a stress to be applied to the feature to re-form the non-conforming feature to within a dimensional tolerance, correlating the stress to the identified yield strength to determine a process temperature of the part upon applying the stress to the feature, determining a time duration for applying the stress to the feature at the determined process temperature, and applying the stress to the feature of the part, the feature being restrained to oppose the stress, while heating the feature to the determined process temperature, and maintaining the application of the stress and the heat to the feature for the time duration in order to reform the restrained feature to within the dimensional tolerance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying a yield strength as a function of temperature for a designation of an aluminum alloy part;
determining a stress to be applied to a non-conforming feature of the aluminum alloy part to re-form the non-conforming feature to within a dimensional tolerance;
correlating the stress to the identified yield strength to determine a process temperature of the aluminum alloy part upon applying the stress to the feature;
determining a time duration for applying the stress to the feature at the determined process temperature, the time duration being a function of at least the stress and the determined process temperature;
applying the stress to the feature of the aluminum alloy part, the feature being restrained to oppose the stress, while heating the feature to the determined process temperature, and maintaining the application of the stress and the heat to the feature for the time duration in order to re-form the restrained feature to within the dimensional tolerance; and
restraining the non-conforming feature in a first portion of an apparatus and applying the stress to the restrained feature using a second portion of the apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the stress comprises calculating the stress based on a force to be applied to the feature per unit area.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the yield strength comprises identifying two or more yield strengths as a function of temperature.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein correlating the stress to the identified yield strength comprises correlating the stress to the two or more identified yield strengths to determine the process temperature of the aluminum alloy part upon applying the stress to the feature, and wherein:
if the stress is less than each of the two or more identified yield strengths, then the process temperature is the temperature corresponding to a lower of the two identified yield strengths; and
if the stress is greater than one of the identified yield strengths, but less than the other of the identified yield strengths, then the process temperature is the temperature corresponding to the higher of the two identified yield strengths.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the yield strength comprises identifying the yield strength as a function of temperature for the aluminum alloy part having the designation of at least one of a wrought aluminum alloy series 2000 in a T6XX, T72, or T8XX condition; a wrought aluminum alloy series 6000 in a T6XX condition; and a wrought aluminum alloy series 7000 in a T6XX, T76XX, T73XX, and a T74XX condition.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein correlating the stress to the identified yield strength to determine the process temperature comprises correlating the stress to the identified yield strength to determine the process temperature of between about 200° F. and about 400° F.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the stress comprises determining the stress to be applied to the feature to re-form the non-conforming feature about 5-500 thousandths of an inch to within the dimensional tolerance.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the time duration comprises determining the time duration of between about 0.5 hours to about 32 hours.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the stress comprises determining the stress of between about 10 kilopounds per square inch to about 65 kilopounds per square inch.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising heating the feature to the determined process temperature using a heating element operably engaged therewith, and stopping the application of the heat from the heating element and the application of the stress from the second portion of the apparatus after the determined time duration so as to reduce a temperature of the restrained feature to below the determined process temperature.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Zolnowski Michael Ryan
• Walker-Heckman Elizabeth Adele

Classifications

• C22F1/04 Primary

  of aluminium or alloys based thereon · CPC title

• G01L1/00

  Measuring force or stress, in general (measuring force due to impact G01L5/00) · CPC title

• C22C21/00

  Alloys based on aluminium · CPC title

• B21D3/16

  of specific articles made from metal rods, tubes, or profiles, e.g. crankshafts, by specially adapted methods or means · CPC title

• B23P6/00

  Restoring or reconditioning objects (straightening or restoring form of sheet metal, metal rods, metal tubes, metal profiles, or specific articles made therefrom B21D1/00, B21D3/00; repairing defective or damaged objects by casting techniques B22D19/10) · CPC title