A study of component surface refurbishment

The act of surface refurbishment of worn components is of itself both environmentally friendly and something which can be accomplished in a timely and convenient manner. It is environmentally friendly since it conserves both material and energy which would be otherwise expended in producing new components. It thus follows that it is also a convenient time-saver. There are many approaches to surface refurbishment, which include Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS), and weld repair, to name just two. All are likely to involve machining in the generation of the new surface. It is true to say that, indeed, most metallic surfaces will have experienced some degree of machining. This leads to the possibility that the properties of surfaces generated by machining are likely to be affected by their superficial state of stress and characteristics of the refurbished layer. Therefore our proposed research is in the characterization of the machinability of the remanufactured surface and the subsequent component performance. Such characteristics include fatigue, corrosion and oxidation.