Description du projet
Défier les limites et innover pour forger une nouvelle ère dans le domaine du moulage
Un changement radical s’annonce dans les secteurs de la fabrication et de la fonderie. Les chercheurs s’attaquent aux défis de longue date auxquels est confronté le processus de fonderie de précision. Le projet SkyLight, financé par l’UE, conduit leurs efforts visant à briser les limites et propulser l’industrie vers des territoires inexplorés. Plus précisément, le projet devrait permettre d’atteindre une complexité géométrique inégalée, de réduire les défauts de 50 %, d’optimiser la rigidité et de réaliser des économies de poids de l’ordre de 15 à 30 %. AMRC Castings, un département de la prestigieuse université de Sheffield, qui coordonne le projet, s’apprête à installer un four colossal pour le moulage de composants aérospatiaux en titane, consolidant ainsi sa position de leader dans ce domaine.
Objectif
Project SkyLight is proposed by AMRC Castings (which evolved out of Castings Technology International). AMRC Castings, a department of the University of Sheffield (USFD), is part of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult. AMRC Castings’ mission is to develop and disseminate casting technology to the benefit of the cast metal and manufacturing sectors.
Based on the Topic Description, and on AMRC Castings’ long experience of similar projects, we believe that project SkyLight would enable the investment casting process to deliver greater geometrical complexity, reduce defects by 50%, optimise stiffness, and deliver weight saving of 15% to 30% and cost saving of 30% compared to conventionally fabricated multi-piece assemblies, along with significant environmental benefits for both the manufacturing and the use phase of the component.
AMRC Castings helped Sulzer to achieve an improvement in pump absorbed efficiency - saving 10% on the power demand. AMRC Castings’ Patternless® process helped Rolls-Royce reduce the time from CAD model to prototypes from 6 months to 6 weeks, and developed more accurate naval propellers for the VT Group that are seen as setting a new standard for others to follow. AMRC Castings’ MEGAshell® process enables ceramic moulds with dimensions of up to 2m3 to be manufactured so that heavy section valve castings weighing several tonnes can be manufactured 34% lighter than the sand cast equivalent and reducing machining costs by over 50%.
This year, AMRC Castings is installing what is believed to be the largest furnace for casting titanium aerospace components in Western Europe - a 1000kg titanium melter - to complement its existing state-of-the-art casting facilities.
AMRC Castings has participated in 21 EU-funded collaborative research projects including 8 projects as coordinator - including research projects such as FASTCAST and events to achieve the greater participation of the castings sector in EU-funded research programmes.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
CS2-RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
S10 2TN Sheffield
Royaume-Uni