Services for the aerospace industry

Expertise at your service

TWI can provide your company with skills and know-how from a comprehensive range of specialised technical resources.

Process development - vital to the aerospace sector if existing and new materials are to be used to their full potential. Progress has been directed towards joining technologies for high specific strength materials, Al-Si alloys, titanium, intermetallics; to difficult-to-join materials, nickel superalloys and ceramic materials; and to the relatively new composites (thermosets and thermoplastics). Attention is now going towards new and improved procedures to reduce cost, reduce weight and reduce or eliminate distortion.

Coatings - the extremes of environment within engines or certain airframe or component parts require thermal and/or erosion resistance. HVOF coatings have been developed with this in mind including ceramics, cermets and functionally graded or composite coatings.

Performance prediction - reliability and maintainability are key issues as the aerospace business moves towards new means of supporting the commercial airline or defence markets. The performance of welded structures, particularly under fatigue loading, is a strength of TWI and an area where TWI can support design and performance improvement and prediction. This will increasingly rely on finite element models to cover process selection and optimisation, design, and joint and structure performance.

Repair - the ability to get more life out of existing aircraft is desired by airline companies, and the armed forces require quick and easy-to-apply repair methodologies. TWI's armoury of joining and coating processes offers opportunities to extend life, coupled with performance evaluation to support maintenance regimes and life predictions.

Aerospace Industry Panel

TWI has set up a dedicated industry sector panel to serve the needs of the aerospace industry. This panel enables industrial member companies and TWI to discuss current and future requirements for the industry. Subjects covered in this open forum have included:

• trends in the aerospace manufacturing industries
• the substance and conduct of TWI's Core R & D Programme
• collaborative projects
• training needs
• special needs in the areas of standards, quality control and safety
• requirements for equipment, materials, design and fabrication methods

To ensure an unbiased approach at the forefront of technology, the Panel contains a representative cross-section of the industry:

• Airframe manufacturers
• Aeroengine manufacturers
• Component manufacturers
• Primary material suppliers

Support for industry

As an industrial member company you can make use of technical support from TWI in all areas of structural integrity, materials engineering and joining technology. This will enable your company to:

• reduce costs/increase profitability
• improve quality and reliability
• extend useful service life
• increase competitive advantage
• develop and innovate processes
• improve material assessment and selection

Member services

Covering five main areas, TWI's services are designed to complement your activities.

Contract R & D services

Short and long-term R & D programmes are carried out for Industrial Member companies who want to exploit new technology or to resolve problems. This may be through a confidential single sponsored project, a group sponsored or a collaborative project.

Information services

Information covering structural integrity, joining processes and procedures, materials development, inspection, design, automation and manufacturing is provided for Members as one of the benefits of membership.

You have direct and instant access by telephone, or e-mail to TWI's information resources. You could have a technical enquiry, a standards query or want the results of a TWI core research and development programme.

Requests can also be made to the library or the Weldasearch office for any published information on welding and joining technology. Alternatively, the Weldasearch database can be accessed here .

Technology transfer

TWI is actively involved in imparting the knowledge, expertise and experience gained in working for industry since 1946, collaborating with companies of every size to implement appropriate available technology to improve business performance. Technology transfer happens through:

• Customer driven technical groups and industry panels
• Project reports on key technologies
• Training material
• TWI journals, newsletters and videos
• Conferences, seminars and workshops
• The Welding & Joining Society
• International Institute of Welding
• Input to international standards
• JoinIT®

Your company can become involved with national and international working groups and a worldwide network of contacts through TWI.

Consultancy and project support

TWI'S experts work with industry, applying their unique knowhow from concept to completion. A multidisciplinary approach at TWI means that teams covering a wide range of skills can be brought together to solve problems arising at any stage within a product's life cycle. TWI helps the aerospace industry with:

• Materials selection and performance
• Joining processes
• Coatings
• Design, safety and reliability
• Inspection
• Flaw assessment
• Repair
• Failure analysis
• Stress analysis
• Mechanical testing
• Engineering software
• Quality assurance
• Health & safety
• Process modelling

Training, qualification and personal membership

A properly trained and qualified workforce:

• inspires business confidence
• meets quality management and contract requirements
• promotes product integrity and safety
• ensures cost-effective operation
• avoids expensive mistakes and litigation

An on-site training school at Abington has been built to support human resource development for engineering worldwide. All training is closely matched to demands of industry, courses are constantly being updated to encompass new and developing technologies. If you are unable to find a specific course to suit your company's needs, then tailor-made programmes can be arranged, either at your own or at TWI's premises.

Examinations leading to certification under internationally recognised schemes (CSWIP, ASNT and PCN) may be taken at the centre.

Courses have been developed to match the needs of the aerospace industry:

• aerospace materials
• welding technology
• ultrasonics
• radiography
• surface testing (penetrant or magnetic)
• non-destructive testing

Personnel Certification examinations (PCN) are held for aerospace specific subjects or in the form of employer based ASNT certification.

Technology projects for aerospace

TWI provides support and guidance for the implementation of joining and manufacturing processes. Some of the R & D projects carried out by TWI for the aerospace industry include:

• Analysis of dynamic failures in carbon fibre-reinforced composites, invaluable when assessing the wide variety of composite systems in use and developing new designs
• Fatigue testing of thin sheet aluminium TIG welds to produce design for the manufacture of more efficient structures.
• Linear friction welding for joining blades to discs
• Development of prototype welding equipment for thermoplastic composite aircraft structures
• Establishment of welding procedures for -titanium aluminides
• Shaped metal deposition using a range of welding processes

Projects at the leading edge

Recent work at TWI for the aerospace sector covers:

• Sophisticated electron beam deflection system to modify thermal profile during welding and enable 'difficult-to-weld' alloys to be manufactured
• New friction processing methods for 'difficult-to-weld' nickel based alloys
• Laser cutting and welding of complex shaped components
• Model to predict the distortion of welded structures
• High productivity welding of Ti using advanced arc welding processes
• Friction stir welding process improvements and joint performance determination, in Al alloys and development of stationary shoulder technique for friction stir welding of Ti alloys
• Defect assessment for more accurate prediction of life expectancy
• Development of NDT facilities for advanced materials to give greater confidence in their use and better in-service inspection, including the verification of techniques through the NDT Validation Centre at the TWI's Wales Technology Centre in Port Talbot
• Thermal barrier protection systems - incorporation of a ceramic liner against the nickel alloy used in combustion chambers, thus increasing working temperatures to 1400 deg C.
• Specialised NDT techniques for adhesively bonded metallic joints. Detection of surface, plate and interface waves will show defects which computer software can interpret numerically or visually.

Back-up resources

Member companies have access to the total range of resources at TWI. Extensive laboratory facilities with a wide variety of advanced equipment and specialised test facilities are available, these include:

• Finite element analysis
• Fatigue and corrosion fatigue
• Fracture testing
• Material and chemical analysis
• NDT
• Impact testing
• High temperature tests

The next step

For further information contact the Aerospace Industry Team ( aerospace@twi.co.uk ) at TWI for any of the services outlined on these pages, or if your company needs any help with an aerospace problem.