New technique to improve titanium machining Thursday, 24 September 2015

The CSIRO has developed a new machining technology to improve the production rates of Australian companies working on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project.

The JSF, or Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, is described as a fifth-generation aircraft meaning it features stealth capacity and advanced sensors as well as networking and data fusion capabilities.

Australia has committed to purchasing 72 of the aircraft and this has allowed Australian companies to tender for jobs on the JSF through the JSF Australian Industry Involvement Program.

Increasing production rates to deliver these aerospace parts is critical so the Australian Government’s New Air Combat Capability program gave CSIRO the task of developing a technology to drive greater efficiency for the local manufacturers who make and supply them.

Lightweight and super strong titanium alloy parts make up about 15% of each JSF plane but, from a machining point of view, titanium alloys are notoriously difficult and complicated to work with and conventional machining methods are slow and tools tend to break prematurely.

CSIRO’s new technology, called thermally assisted machining (TAM) works by pointing a laser beam on the workpiece ahead of the cutting tool, heating up the metal so that it is more pliable. This makes the process five times faster and reduces machining costs by as much as 80 per cent.

With metal aerospace components estimated to be worth a$50 billion worldwide, the technology could potentially help Australian manufacturers tap further into the global market for military and commercial aircraft.

The organisation is now partnering with local manufacturer H&H Tools to develop a prototype for a gantry type milling machine to demonstrate how the technology works. It expect this to be ready in 2016 and believes it might also assist in the machining of other ‘difficult’ nickel and iron base super alloys.