A complete study on satellite thruster structure (STS) manufactured by a hybrid manufacturing (HM) process with integration of additive and subtractive manufacture

Recently, the fact that hybrid manufacturing (HM) combines different manufacturing processes mechanism of additive and subtractive processes has gained significant attentions. This work attempts to study a process of HM in order to overcome the disadvantages of each manufacturing process. Selective laser melting (SLM) of ANSI 316L stainless and machining are used as the additive and subtractive manufacturing process, respectively, in this work. Firstly, the mechanical properties and the standard samples manufactured by HM are analyzed. The results show that the finished surface roughness has no apparent influence on the tensile strength. The tensile strength of HM is reduced in comparison with the substrate materials. The yield strength of HM is higher than the substrate material. And the heat treatment is beneficial for the mechanical properties improvement. Further, the geometrical feature structure manufacture complexity indices (GFS-MCIs) are defined and calculated from the computer-aided design (CAD) model. In reference to GFS-MCIs, a satellite thruster structure (STS) is analyzed and decomposed into two geometrical feature structures. Based on the result of GFS-MCIs, STS is manufactured by HM approach as a complete component.