Our advanced cutting tools are saving the aerospace industry time, money and energy.
Airlines are under pressure to reduce emissions while keeping costs down. To meet demand, aerospace companies such as Boeing and Airbus are working to reduce the weight and improve fuel efficiency of their aircraft. They depend on their suppliers to produce lighter and stronger components, by using advanced manufacturing technologies to work with innovative alloys and composite materials.
Companies throughout the aerospace supply chain, from majors such as Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems down to SMEs, are also facing business pressures. To compete in the global market, these manufacturing companies need to reduce the cost and time of production. To survive, they need new technologies and new ways of working.
One example of a literally “cutting-edge” technology is the Mega-Flute tooling range, jointly developed by Rolls-Royce and Sheffield-based cutting tool manufacturer, Technicut.
Mega-Flute is a range of precision-engineered rotary cutting tools used for the high-performance machining of advanced aerospace materials including titanium, exotic steels and nickel-based, super alloys. Their unique advantage is the high density of cutting edges around the head of the tool - up to 20 edges (known as flutes) per inch diameter. This allows the tools to machine faster whilst maintaining stability, accuracy and component quality.
Complex components such as engine parts are cut fairly crudely from the raw material, then finished to give precisely-engineered surfaces and forms. The quality of the surface is critical to the lifespan and performance of many components.
Using conventional tools, finishing can take up 60-70% of the production time. Mega-Flute tools can finish surfaces up to 8-10 times faster than conventional methods, saving time, money and energy.
Rolls-Royce is now using Mega-Flute technology to produce such critical components as engine casings for the Trent 900 engine used on the Airbus A380, as well as the Trent 1000 used on the Boeing Dreamliner. It's also rolling out the technology along its supply chain - its suppliers are forecast to realise significant savings next year thanks to Mega-Flute.
Mega-Flute's success has been widely recognised by the industry, winning the prestigious 2009 Sir Henry Royce Award for Technical Innovation, and a gold award at BAE Systems' Chairman's Awards for Innovation.
When Rolls-Royce needed a partner to develop the Mega-Flute, they came to the Yorkshire and Humber region in the UK. They teamed-up with Sheffield-based Technicut, the UK market leader in innovative rotary cutting tools, to produce the tools – they had the key skills to manufacture a tool with such a high density of cutting edges.
The partners then came to the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to further develop the technology. AMRC researchers have used their world-class expertise and facilities to help test, qualify and certify the use of Mega-Flute for aerospace applications. The AMRC is also working to develop the technology for other applications, such as marine materials and the civilian nuclear industry, and other materials.
The AMRC is a global centre of expertise in manufacturing technologies, working closely with the world's biggest names in aerospace, metals and machine tools. As well as taking Sheffield's historic strengths in metal into the 21st century, the AMRC is also leading the development of new areas such as composite materials and additive manufacturing.
The AMRC is based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, alongside other leading research centres and innovative manufacturing companies.
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