Page 46 - MetalForming July 2019

Market Report: Aerospace
example. “The part called for a fairly thick (0.030 in.) piece of titanium, which must be heated to become mal- leable for forming,” he explains. “Using a 50-ton hot stamping press built inhouse, we heated the material and formed it around a pressurized man- drel. The finesse comes in to play because titanium tends to crack unless it’s brought to temperature while form- ing, providing stress relief between forms using tightly sealed Vac Aero (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) ovens that provide an argon-gas environment to prevent carburization and a rapid temperature drop.”
Like Whitcraft, Lincoln Electric, provider of welding solutions, stresses a proactive approach to metal AM. Already working with customers, the company is preparing for a formal opening of its Additive Solutions facil- ity, with more than 20 robotic AM sys- tems, later this year. Lincoln Electric recently completed the acquisition of Baker Industries, a Detroit, MI-based provider of custom tooling, parts and fixtures for the automotive and aero- space markets. Baker’s inhouse design and manufacturing capabilities include metal 3D printing of tools for aerospace applications using EOS M290 DMLS machines.
Brian Baker, vice president and gen- eral manager of Baker, says that demand for lighter weight and greater fuel efficiency drives the development of more composite components for aerospace. He adds that 3D printed tooling made of aluminum and steel alloys, as well as hybrid tooling that combines additive with subtractive manufacturing—CNC machining for example—enable faster tooling turn- arounds by automotive Tier Ones and aerospace companies.
Looking ahead, Mark Douglass, Lin- coln’s business development manager, Additive Solutions, says his group antic- ipates accelerating large format wire- based metal AM in certain markets such as aerospace. “Baker, as a platform acquisition and with its relationships allows us to do that,” says Douglass.
Moreover, he says, Lincoln Electric’s
Wolf Robotics acquisition in 2015 accel- erated its investment in developing complex motion control and CAD-to- path software for making larger parts. “We’ve been working on large-format AM for roughly 10 years,” says Douglas. “Together with our expertise in met- allurgy and process technologies, such
as arc and laser hot-wire welding, these acquisitions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to AM. So, too, does the 3-yr. CRADA (cooperative research and development agreement) we signed in May with Oak Ridge National Labora- tories, agreeing to continued collabo- ration on large-scale, robotic AM and
The F-22 Raptor fighter jet features an auxiliary-power-unit air-intake grill, redesigned and manufactured by Ace Clearwater.
California Company Deals Aces for Aerospace Projects
Ace Clearwater, headquartered in Torrance, CA, creates custom and complex formed and welded assemblies for customers in aerospace and other industries. Earlier this year, Epicor ERP named Ace Clearwater the winner in its Technology Innovator category. Having migrated to the Epicor ERP 10 enterprise resource planning system in 2017, the company achieved significant improvements in cost-of-quality (COQ) and on-time delivery (OTD). In the past five years, according to Epicor officials in announcing the award, Ace’s COQ has dropped from 2.6 to 1.1 percent, saving the company approximately $450,000 per year. During the same period, Ace elevated its OTD rate from 95.9 to 98.6 percent, resulting in greater customer satisfaction, as measured by captured business—which in 2018 was 22 percent over the target goal.
The Ace client list reads as a who’s who in aerospace, and includes Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, Honeywell Aerospace, Snowline Aerospace, Airbus, Bell Helicopter and Safran. The company motto: “If it flies, we’re on it.” In its 700,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space, Ace Clearwater employs a comprehensive arsenal of capabilities that include engineering, stamping, tube bending, forging, welding, machining, laser and waterjet cutting, assembly, and 3D printing. Its 50,000-sq.-ft. Compton, CA, facility contains the company’s metal form- ing operations, housing hydroforming equipment, a 400-ton hydraulic press, machine shop and five-axis laser cutting machines.
The company brings its inhouse expertise to bear in a variety of applications. One example: an auxiliary-power-unit air-intake grill for the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, which must function at speeds reaching Mach 2. The grill’s sophisticated design presented a manufac- turing challenge, according to Ace officials.
Made from high-grade aluminum, the original design was discovered to react to air pressures at speeds greater than Mach 1, when the force of the air and the location of the vents created excessive louver vibration, resulting in sound heard in the cockpit through the pilot’s helmet.
Ace’s task from Honeywell, the project customer: Manufacture the redesigned grill, which required complex aluminum forms; unique, strong welds that could withstand vibra- tion; and construction that could withstand extreme temperatures. The project brought many challenges. For example, each blade in the grill features a slight shape variation, so Ace handcrafted all of the blades and precision-welded them into precise locations. Thin separation between the blades made welding more difficult, compounded by the fact that aluminum welding itself is a complex task. Ultimately, construction of the grills exceeded the demands required.
44 MetalForming/July 2019
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