Accelerating the development of next-gen aerospace materials

An industrial-scale iso-thermal testing platform is poised to accelerate the development of next-generation materials and process technologies for aerospace.

Sustainable air travel has long been the overarching goal of the aerospace industry, with recent advances in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), lightweighting and efficiency. Now, a new collaboration in advanced engineering and materials science is aiming to further support this mission.

International aerospace firm ATI has joined the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) in a partnership that seeks to progress the development of advanced engineering and materials science to support more sustainable air travel. Key to this is access to the AFRC’s pioneering FutureForge facility, which provides an industrial-scale iso-thermal testing platform. As airlines increasingly focus on sustainability, new metallic alloys that can endure higher temperatures than ever before will be key to allowing jet engines to operate at maximum efficiency and, ultimately, burn less fuel.

“ATI is one of the world’s largest forging houses and a key supplier of high-performance materials to many of our existing members and partners, particularly within the aerospace sector,” says Professor Brad Wynne, director of the AFRC.

FUTUREFORGE

The AFRC launched FutureForge earlier this year, connecting the $75 billion global forging sector with the industry-scale testbed and centre’s expertise. FutureForge comprises a tri-modal 2,000 tonne press offering open die, closed die and iso-thermal forging capabilities, instantaneous data analytics through a state-of-the-art control room, two furnaces – one powered by electricity and the other by gas – and a custom-built smart robotics manipulator arm. ATI will now be able to use the platform to de-risk the development of new products, processes and technologies for the aerospace sector.

“Aerospace is a hugely important sector for the global economy and materials science is key to developing the next generation of aircraft engines that can operate more sustainably,” Wynne adds. “With FutureForge, the AFRC is in a unique position to help develop these kinds of novel materials and offers an industrial-scale testbed like no other.”

FORGING AHEAD

According to Wynne, FutureForge is poised to unlock a valuable opportunity for forging companies to explore modern processes and new integrated digital technologies that could have a significant impact on global aerospace manufacturing.

“With the latest hot forging press of its kind, dedicated solely to R&D, unparalleled connectivity capabilities, and over a decade of experience in materials science, the AFRC is in a unique position to help the forging industry embrace net zero, unlock energy savings, accelerate productivity and ultimately transform and secure this vitally important industry for future generations,” he continues.

The FutureForge is hailed as a “unique facility”, owing to the fact it can capture large amounts of data, enabling true digital twins of data to be developed at scale for the very first time.

“This enables companies to develop an understanding of whether their product is going to perform well in service, therefore giving confidence to the end user to make sure they have the best material for the job,” Wynne adds. And, with the platform’s tri-modal offering and multiple furnaces, “industry has the opportunity to compare and contrast the different types of energy source in terms of their productivity, as well as their cost and effectiveness. For the first time, industry can actually do R&D at the industrial scale.

“Through FutureForge, companies will have access to all of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) capability set from digital through data to lightweighting and all the other amazing capabilities that NMIS has.”