Take off for Europe’s biggest aerospace castings facility
A castings facility capable of producing some of the biggest titanium aerospace components in the world is now operational at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and big industry names are lining up to collaborate on research.
Construction of the furnace for the AMRC Castings Group was completed last year and in the past few weeks the first tests have been completed.
The furnace has three interchangeable crucibles with the capacity for melting 250kg, 500kg and 1000kg of metal, which give it the versatility to produce components with a finished weight ranging upwards from 60kg.
A molten mass in excess of 1000kg is required to make a 500kg titanium casting and only a handful of furnaces exist globally that are capable of casting near net shape aerospace components of this size.
With leading aerospace primes and manufacturing companies already lining up to collaborate on research, AMRC Castings is conducting initial paper and pilot studies to identify the risks and value streams associated with casting large-scale components in titanium.
AMRC Castings research and development manager Mark D’Souza-Mathew said: “AMRC Castings has over 15 years of experience in casting titanium and we are now aiming to assist companies considering a transfer of manufacturing from forged to cast for the production of large-scale near-net shape components.
“We are working with the Aerospace Technology Institute and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult to define a programme of work and explore the boundaries of large-scale near-net shape castings. This will include retro-fitting the workshop floor with sensors to extract process related information, with a view to developing manufacturing intelligence and supporting simulation software.”
AMRC Castings’ new furnace is part of a major investment and R&D programme, designed to enable UK companies to break into global markets for largescale titanium aerospace engine and structural components and is backed by the UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute; innovation agency, Innovate UK; and High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
It will be ready for industrial access around Summer 2017.
