Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the redesign and additive manufacturing of a rocket engine nozzle using Inconel 625 material. The redesigned engine took into consideration material shrinkage during the metal transfer process. The additive manufacturing process was carried out using the appropriate toolpaths to form a solid structure. Micrographs of the additively manufactured structure showed layer resolution and fine detail, as well as the presence of metallic particles within the polymer matrix. The final rocket engine nozzle produced was found to have the necessary mechanical and metallurgical properties required for practical use in future space vehicle operations. This was demonstrated by tensile tests carried out at various temperatures and 3D white light interferometry scans of the surface properties. The results of the study suggest that additive manufacturing and Inconel 625 material can be used to produce high-performance rocket engine nozzles that meet the requirements of the aerospace industry. This study provides valuable insights into the potential applications of additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry and may lead to the development of new, high-performance rocket engine nozzles.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
There is currently no data to be made available for this study.
Code availability
There is no code to be made available for this study.
References
Thomas DJ (2022) Advanced active-gas 3D printing of 436 stainless steel for future rocket engine structure manufacture. J Manuf Processes 74:256–265
Thomas DJ (2022) Preventing the failure of 3d-printed aerospace components. J Fail Anal Prev 22:865–867
Karakurt I, Lin L (2020) 3D printing technologies: techniques, materials, and post-processing. Curr Opin Chem Eng 28:134–143
Zhang T, Yang HC, Miyamoto CM (2014) 3D Printing: a cost effective and timely approach to manufacturing of low-thrust engines. Proceedings of the 50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Cleveland, OH, July 28-30, 2014, AIAA 2014–3502.
West B, Robertson E, Osborne R, Calvert M (2016) 'Additive Manufacturing for Affordable Rocket Engines', NASA Technical Report M16-5585, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, January 1, 2016.
Martinez DW, Espino MT, Cascolan HM, Crisostomo JL, Dizon JRC (2022) A Comprehensive Review on the Application of 3D Printing in the Aerospace Industry. Key Eng Mater 913:27–34
Grefen B, Becker J, Linke S, Stoll E (2021) Design, production and evaluation of 3d-printed mold geometries for a hybrid rocket engine. Aerosp 8(8):220. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8080220
Lyne JE, Brigham A, Savery R, Karcher K, Pyron J, Adams L, Reagan G, Furches H, Sola D, Melendez L (2018) 'The Use of a 3-D Printed, Polymer Matrix Containing Pulverized Fuel in a Hybrid Rocket', AIAA 2018–4597, in Proceedings of the [Conference Name], Session: Poster Session, Cincinnati, Ohio, July 9-11, 2018.
Shahrubudin N, Lee TC, Ramlan R (2019) An overview on 3d printing technology: technological, materials, and applications. Procedia Manuf 35:1286–1296
Mazhar H, Osswald T, Negrut D (2016) On the use of computational multi-body dynamics analysis in SLS-based 3D printing. Addit Manuf 12(Part B):291–295
Dordlofva C, Lindwall A, Törlind P (2016) Opportunities and challenges for additive manufacturing in space applications. In Boks C, Sigurjonsson J, Steinert M, Vis C, Wulvik, A (eds.), DS 85-1: Proceedings of Nord Design 2016, Volume 1, Trondheim, Norway, 10th-12th August 2016, NordDESIGN, pp. 401–410
Schiller GJ (2015) Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace. in 2015 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT, USA, 7–14 March 2015. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO.2015.7118958
Oztan C, Coverstone V (2021) Utilization of additive manufacturing in hybrid rocket technology: A review. Acta Astronaut 180:130–140
Katsarelis C, Chen P, Gradl P, Protz C, Jones Z, Ellis D, Evans L (2019) Additive manufacturing of nasa hr-1 material for liquid rocket engine component applications. In JANNAF Dec 2019
Gradl PR, Teasley TW, Protz CS, Garcia MB, Ellis D, Kantzos C (2021) Advancing GRCop-based bimetallic additive manufacturing to optimize component design and applications for liquid rocket engines. In AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2021 Forum
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
There are no current confirm of interested to declare. The author wrote the manuscript, prepared the images, and carried out the scientific work over the course of 3 years.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
There is no need to gather ethical approval for this research.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
I give consent for this publication to be published.
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Thomas, D.J. Advanced 3D additive manufacturing techniques for revolutionizing the next-generation rocket engine nozzle fabrication. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 127, 3747–3760 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-11669-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-11669-7