Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SkyLight (SkyLight: Innovations in titanium investment casting of lightweight structural components for aero engines)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2018-08-01 al 2020-01-31
Titanium investment casting is an essential technology used in the production of complex components used in the manufacture of aircraft engines. Many of the designs which enable more efficient operation are bound by limitations in the manufacturing process.
The European metal casting industry faces demands for lighter components with lower total costs of use and with enhanced mechanical properties, surface finish, and dimensional accuracy, all of which are necessary to improve product performance. Simultaneously, they face continuously increasing competition from foundries and machine shops in low labour cost countries. Precision casting is often seen as a craft process and, as such, is not perfectly understood. Around 5%-16% of complex aerospace castings are scrapped as a result of failure or inconsistency of the manufacturing process.
The project aims to address these challenges enabling increased complexity of design and reduced waste during the manufacturing process; resulting in more efficient design, reduced cost by reducing waste and increased environmental benefits by both reduced weight and increased efficiency in operation.
The project has successfully identified three key outputs from the activities undertaken. These are as follows:
• Demonstrated the potential of two new casting alloys in the aerospace arena and has demonstrated their potential benefit for use in components where strength is key to the design. Such alloys have the potential for weight savings on such components.
• Determined the limitations and demonstrated the ability for inspection of a complex casting using conventional and new ultrasonic techniques for identification and accurate location of sub-surface defects. This will allow for a higher confidence in the products supplied, reduced cost and increased material utilisation.
• Developed and demonstrated the ability to further stabilise mould-metal reaction to reduce the formation of alpha case by 50%. Such coatings will massively reduce the environmental impact of the chemical machining operation, increase the utilisation of material and have beneficial associated cost savings.
The European metal casting industry faces demands for lighter components with lower total costs of use and with enhanced mechanical properties, surface finish, and dimensional accuracy, all of which are necessary to improve product performance. Simultaneously, they face continuously increasing competition from foundries and machine shops in low labour cost countries. Precision casting is often seen as a craft process and, as such, is not perfectly understood. Around 5%-16% of complex aerospace castings are scrapped as a result of failure or inconsistency of the manufacturing process.
The project aims to address these challenges enabling increased complexity of design and reduced waste during the manufacturing process; resulting in more efficient design, reduced cost by reducing waste and increased environmental benefits by both reduced weight and increased efficiency in operation.
The project has successfully identified three key outputs from the activities undertaken. These are as follows:
• Demonstrated the potential of two new casting alloys in the aerospace arena and has demonstrated their potential benefit for use in components where strength is key to the design. Such alloys have the potential for weight savings on such components.
• Determined the limitations and demonstrated the ability for inspection of a complex casting using conventional and new ultrasonic techniques for identification and accurate location of sub-surface defects. This will allow for a higher confidence in the products supplied, reduced cost and increased material utilisation.
• Developed and demonstrated the ability to further stabilise mould-metal reaction to reduce the formation of alpha case by 50%. Such coatings will massively reduce the environmental impact of the chemical machining operation, increase the utilisation of material and have beneficial associated cost savings.
The project has investigated two alternative cast titanium alloys and four technological developments.
The alternative alloys have been fully characterised in comparison to the current Ti-6Al-4V, which finds the widest use in the aerospace industry. These alloys offer the benefit of increased tensile performance whilst maintaining the castability of the incumbent alloys. Whilst this would not offer any significant benefit on the specific structures used in the project, structures that are primarily driven by the loading exerted on them would have the opportunity for weight reduction.
Technological developments within the project have demonstrated that ultrasonic testing is a viable technology that is currently not utilised in the titanium casting sector. The limitations of the process have been defined and the technology has been demonstrated to have the ability to accurately locate a defect, giving potential to reduce both time and cost of manufacture.
Coatings have been developed that reduce the generated alpha case in the casting by up to 50%. Such reduction allows the reduction of raw material usage and eliminates a significant amount of hazardous waste and cost savings.
The results of the project have been disseminated through a variety of conferences, workshops and publications.
The alternative alloys have been fully characterised in comparison to the current Ti-6Al-4V, which finds the widest use in the aerospace industry. These alloys offer the benefit of increased tensile performance whilst maintaining the castability of the incumbent alloys. Whilst this would not offer any significant benefit on the specific structures used in the project, structures that are primarily driven by the loading exerted on them would have the opportunity for weight reduction.
Technological developments within the project have demonstrated that ultrasonic testing is a viable technology that is currently not utilised in the titanium casting sector. The limitations of the process have been defined and the technology has been demonstrated to have the ability to accurately locate a defect, giving potential to reduce both time and cost of manufacture.
Coatings have been developed that reduce the generated alpha case in the casting by up to 50%. Such reduction allows the reduction of raw material usage and eliminates a significant amount of hazardous waste and cost savings.
The results of the project have been disseminated through a variety of conferences, workshops and publications.
Within the project, alternative alloys have been identified that will potentially have an impact on the weight of load bearing structural castings, offering the potential for their use to achieve weight savings of 13-30%.
Two technologies were developed as part of the project that have progressed beyond the current state of the art. These offer significant opportunities for lower cost manufacturing technologies that will reduce the amount of waste during manufacture and enable the manufacture of components with increased complexity. This will enable more operational efficiency through design, reduced environmental impact and lower cost of manufacture through more efficient manufacturing processes.
As part of the Skylight Project, the technologies have been demonstrated to offer the potential of cost savings for aero assemblies of up to 64%, reduction in the cost of castings manufacture by 10%, reduced energy consumption in manufacture by over 900kWh, resulting in a reduction in the manufacturing carbon footprint of 541kg CO2. In addition the amount of hazardous waste produced within the manufacture of titanium castings will be halved, representing a saving of 56litres of Hazardous waste per kg of titanium removed from the surface of a casting.
These offer significant opportunities to the European aerospace sector in their progression to a more sustainable, lighter weight near net shape manufacturing solution.
Two technologies were developed as part of the project that have progressed beyond the current state of the art. These offer significant opportunities for lower cost manufacturing technologies that will reduce the amount of waste during manufacture and enable the manufacture of components with increased complexity. This will enable more operational efficiency through design, reduced environmental impact and lower cost of manufacture through more efficient manufacturing processes.
As part of the Skylight Project, the technologies have been demonstrated to offer the potential of cost savings for aero assemblies of up to 64%, reduction in the cost of castings manufacture by 10%, reduced energy consumption in manufacture by over 900kWh, resulting in a reduction in the manufacturing carbon footprint of 541kg CO2. In addition the amount of hazardous waste produced within the manufacture of titanium castings will be halved, representing a saving of 56litres of Hazardous waste per kg of titanium removed from the surface of a casting.
These offer significant opportunities to the European aerospace sector in their progression to a more sustainable, lighter weight near net shape manufacturing solution.