Sponsored by
Breakthrough for AMRC researchers
Scientists from South Yorkshire's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre have made a major breakthrough in pioneering new techniques for slashing the cost and time it takes to make large aerospace components.
The Sheffield University scientists have been leading a European Union-backed project involving researchers from Italy, Belgium and Argentina and engineering companies that include Sheffield-based tool manufacturer Footprint.
The RAPOLAC project is a three year programme to commercialise a technique called shaped metal deposition, or SMD.
SMD involves welding a continuous metal wire into the desired shape, reducing the wastage involved in traditional methods of making large aerospace components by machining them from a solid piece of metal or forging them, which requires expensive tooling.
The technology was originally developed by Rolls-Royce and has the potential to reduce the time required to design and produce large aerospace components like engine casings from nine months to a few weeks.
However, SMD hasn't been widely exploited commercially because the welding process had to be manually controlled by a skilled technician and people didn't understand the material properties of the components produced using SMD.
RAPOLAC has overcome those challenges by developing sophisticated robots that can do the job without supervision and carrying our research to assess and predict the properties of components made by SMD.
Project manager Rosemary Gault said: "SMD was a very promising technology when it came to us, but companies weren't interested because it was very labour intensive and we didn't understand the material properties.
"Thanks to the funding from the EU Framework Programme and the hard work of all our partners, it's now been fully modelled and automated. It's ready to go into wider production, and we're talking to a number of companies from aerospace and other sectors."
Richard Jewitt, a director of RAPOLAC's Sheffield-based industrial partner, Footprint, added: "Footprint's involvement in the RAPOLAC project has been an essential part of developing our future strategy.
"To survive and prosper we must move up the technology ladder in what we manufacture and enhance the skills level of our staff. Being part of the RAPOLAC project has enabled us to assess a new manufacturing method, while our staff have been working closely with experienced and highly capable partners."
RAPOLAC involved the AMRC; the Universit degli Studi di Catania in Sicily; the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium; the Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Santa Fe, Argentina; Footprint Sheffield; Belgian engineering software group Samtech; the environmental consultancy Diad and project management specialist Metec, both from Italy.
Got a view? Leave a comment below.
Follow The Star on Twitter and Facebook:
For breaking news and sport follow The Star on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sheffieldstar and Facebook at www.facebook.com/sheffieldstar.
JOIN THE STAR READER PANEL: The Star is YOUR newspaper, so tell us what you think about it and what you want to see - CLICK HERE.
Don't miss our daily pull-outs - only in the The Star: Monday Star Sport, Tuesday Class Act; Wednesday Business; Thursday Grassroots; Friday Time Out; Saturday Retro. Subscribe to The Star - CLICK HERE
READ MORE
Subscribe to The Star or Green 'Un
Visit our Matchday Centre for free live coverage of every match
Football headlines. Football gossip. Blades news Owls news Reds news. Millers news. More rugby. More boxing. Sports columnists.
All sport categories
Watch Premiership highlights, international football, golf, tennis, darts and much more - click here
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
