Robot deburring of inconel turbine discs

Currently aerospace sector is introducing many advances in manufacturing plants. AML identified an aero - component to be used as test bed for robot machining: turbine discs. Turbine discs are the components in the gas turbine engines to which the blades attach. As now they are deburred manually, aerospace industry is looking for automating the process and robot machining represents again a potential solution in alternative to CNC milling. A test part with the same material as turbine disc (Inconel) and similar features has been used in the demonstration. Many advances in manufacturing have been implemented into production facilities, however deburring of machined components is one which still remains a manual procedure in many situations. Manual deburring has been identified as an area which the aerospace industry wishes to replace with automated process to remove the possibility of human error. Deburring components with the use of a machine has been labelled ‘mechanical edge preparation’ within the industry. It is this area which AMRC Manufacturing has investigated as a key application of robot machining cells. As regarding the economic aspects of robot deburring process, the key areas in which the robot cell provides advantages to the CNC alternative are the equipment cost, the flexibility, the factory floor space requirements and the working envelope.