Method of fabricating space satellite tank components utilizing additive manufacturing and spin forming

Abstract

A thin wall spinformed metallic tank shell includes a first region with a first thickness and at least one second region with a second thickness greater than the first thickness including structural features formed by an additive manufacturing process, where the features are added outside and inside of the metallic tank shell and can include: polar bosses added to one or both external polar regions of a spherical section of the tank; mounting tabs on a circumferential skirt of the tank; mounting rings containing threaded holes attached to the interior or exterior surface of the tank; mounting trunnions attached to the external surface of the tank; propellant management devices attached to the interior surface of the tank; structural reinforcement vanes and ribs attached to the inside surface of the tank; and brackets and/or shelves attached to the inside surface of the tank.

1 . A thin wall spinformed metallic tank shell comprising:
 a first region with a first thickness; and   at least one second region with a second thickness greater than the first thickness including structural features formed by an additive manufacturing process, wherein the structural features comprise at least one of:
 (a) polar bosses added to one or both external polar regions of a spherical section of the tank; 
 (b) mounting tabs on a circumferential skirt of the tank; 
 (c) mounting rings containing threaded holes attached to the interior or exterior surface of the tank; 
 (d) mounting trunnions attached to the external surface of the tank; 
 (e) propellant management devices (PMD) attached to the interior surface of the tank; 
 (f) structural reinforcement vanes and ribs attached to the inside surface of the tank; and 
 (g) brackets and/or shelves attached to the inside surface of the tank. 
   
     
     
         2 . The metallic tank shell of  claim 1 , wherein the structural features are formed from a metal comprising one or more of aluminum, titanium, steel, and alloys thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The metallic tank shell of  claim 2 , wherein the metal comprises 6061, 2219, 2014 aluminum alloys and CP Ti, Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-15V-3Cr-3Sn-3Al titanium alloys. 
     
     
         4 . The metallic tank shell of  claim 1 , wherein the additive manufacturing process comprises powder based and wire based direct metal deposition processes. 
     
     
         5 . The metallic tank shell of  claim 4 , wherein powder based direct metal deposition comprises at least one of laser engineered net shaping (LENS), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), selected laser melting, laser powder injection, and direct metal deposition (DMD). 
     
     
         6 . The metallic tank shell of  claim 4 , wherein wire based direct metal deposition comprises at least one of wire feed laser deposition, electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM), hot wire gas tungsten arc welding (HW-GTAW), and ion fusion formation (IFF).