T. Borkar, A. Belure, M. Garg and D. Schwam
Cleveland State University, Ohio, United States
Keywords: Direct Energy Deposition, Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, Repair
The defense industry demands durable, precise, and cost-effective repair technologies to sustain critical assets across air, land, and naval platforms. Components such as compressor cases, turbine blades and vanes, propeller shafts, rotors, engine mounts, armor plates, radar frames, and heat exchanger support structures frequently suffer from wear, corrosion, or fatigue damage under extreme service conditions. Timely and reliable repair of these parts is essential to ensure operational readiness and extend service life. Robotic Arc-DED enables in-situ or depot-level repair of critical tooling, propulsion, and structural components, with minimal operator interaction, delivering consistent, efficient, and reliable restoration of high-value parts. The DED repair procedure begins with a CAD model of the original component, followed by the extraction of the damaged section and scanning of the surface using a 3D scanner to ascertain the precise repair volume. The research team at Cleveland State University has extensive expertise in Arc-DED–based repair. A WAAM system has been used for repairing hot forging dies utilizing advanced repair alloys. Steel blocks repaired by DED have been investigated to establish best practices for forging die repair.