Premium Aerotec specializes in machining critical aerospace components, and is among the companies leading the effort to develop new metal-cutting technologies for titanium and other new materials.
The aerospace industry drives innovation in numerous other manufacturing sectors, notably the machine tool sector. In many cases, the innovation stems from the need to develop ways to work with new materials, especially titanium. Titanium, it hardly needs to be said, is a material that is particularly important in future aircraft programs like the A350 or the A320 NEO. Most new aircraft are designed with lightweight composite materials like carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics: Due to the material characteristics of these plastics, titanium is required, too.
However, as a material, titanium is extremely difficult to machine, and poses new challenges for metal-cutting technology. Speed, precision and flexibility have to be increased, while at the same time costs have to be downsized and time-savings have to be achieved.
A “Special Show of the Machining Innovations Network” will take place at EMO Hannover 2011, September 19-24 (Hall 27, Stand C32), showing up-to-the-future highlights and milestones in metal-cutting production technology for structural components made of titanium. The entire value creation chain of the aviation industry and its partners is represented, from initial research all the way through to the final application.
Along with the machining process fundamentals involved (a live demonstration on a Heller machine), other important steps in the metal-cutting process chain will be exhibited, designed to make a crucial contribution towards upgrading cost-efficiency.
Thirteen members of the Machining Innovations Network will show newly developed products at the Special Show, which will present a mixture of research institutes and companies in the process chain. As users in metal-cutting production processes, the Special Show will be rounded off by Deharde Maschinenbau Helmut Hoffmann GmbH, a high-precision plant and machinery manufacturer, and Premium Aerotec GmbH, a supplier of civil and military aviation structures.
Other companies and research institutes in the Machining Innovations Network:
Artis GmbH, Bilz Werkzeugfabrik GmbH & Co.KG, Blaser Swisslube GmbH, Franz Kessler GmbH, Gebr. Heller Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Haimer GmbH, the Institute for Production Technology and Machine Tools (IFW) at Leibniz University in Hanover, Iscar Germany GmbH, Karl-Heinz Arnold GmbH, SandvikCoromant, and the Machine Tool Laboratory (WZL) at the RWTH University of Applied Science in Aachen.
The Machining Innovations Network focuses on developing and testing technological and process-engineering innovations, aiming to set new standards for practical metal cutting. The organization supplements the capabilities of its members, and as a coordinating partner it “synergizes” the value-creating potential of every participant in the process chain.
The starting point is the need to develop a practical response to the growing use of titanium and other new materials that are so critical in future aircraft programs, and pose new challenges for metal cutting. Speed, precision and flexibility have to be increased, and cost and production times have to be reduced. The insights, developments, and strategies jointly developed will also be channeled into numerous other industrial applications, such as automaking, shipbuilding, machinery and plant construction, medical technology, wind-energy installation manufacturing, and drive systems.
In addition to the specialty exhibit, The Machining Innovations Network has planned a specialty conference during EMO 2011 — “New production technologies in aerospace applications.”
