In military systems, usually the repair of deployed equipment can become impossible due to the lack of a spare, either due to logistical problems or because said component is no longer in production. Thus, arises the need to manufacture the spare in the place where the equipment needs it, this gives an interesting opportunity to implement the techniques of additive manufacturing in the field. In this article a case study of a required spare of the German Federal Armed Forces is presented, with a methodology to deal with the data in the integrated process of design and manufacturing.

The production of spare parts using Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an emerging area that impacts the supply chain management. To give designers a way to proceed at the moment of redesign and produce a spare part using AM, this contribution presents a methodology for the design and manufacturing of digital spare parts using AM in decentralized facilities. The redesign of the spare parts is tackled by giving design considerations based on agile hardware development practices to improve the quality of the spare parts and reduce the lead time. Since this methodology is derived from different case studies of the military over two years, the approach is suited for the defence industry but can be adapted to other industries that operate reduced facilities abroad. Additionally, three different use cases following the methodology are presented. The weaknesses of the processes are highlighted and some recommendations for production engineers and designers are given.

In the laser powder bed fusion processes for metal additive manufacturing, a support structure is needed to fix the part to the base plate and to support overhanging regions. Currently the importance of support structure for a successful build process is often underestimated and some effects are not yet well understood. Therefore, this study investigates the fracture behavior and mechanical properties of thin additive manufactured struts using the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V and specific machine parameters for support structures. Tensile tests were performed for different strut diameters and the fracture surfaces were analyzed using a laser microscope and a scanning electron microscope. Additionally, the porosity was examined with micro-CT scans. The results were compared with a different set of parameters used for solid parts. The experiments revealed that struts produced with support parameters had no significantly lower tensile strength than the comparative parts. Despite that, some porosity and around two percent of defects on the fracture surface for parts using the solid parameter set have been found. Parts with support parameters show no porosity, even though the energy density is around 30% lower compared to the solid parameter set.

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