TiFab project predicts huge material savings

The three-year TiFab programme has studied more than 170 aircraft components to assess their suitability for an advanced joining process which could offer annual raw material savings of around £9 million.

TiFab consortium members CAV Advanced Technologies, KUKA, Ten Solutions and The Welding Institute predict that manufacturers could save over 200 tonnes of titanium a year if they chose linear friction welding to bond parts instead of machining from solid billets.

The £2.6m project has been designed to show how near net shape manufacture can boost productivity by using tailored blanks to produce lightweight titanium alloy parts. Its main aim is to develop an industrial scale demonstrator tooling system and components.

“Linear friction welding was preferred to other welding or deposition techniques because of its speed and ability to achieve near parent material properties, explained project leader Martin Wood. “Currently, forging and extrusions are the only tailored blank solutions suited to primary airframe structure components where material physical properties must be used to the maximum in order to minimise weight.”

With the support of several OEMs, the project team has been able to examine a vast number of candidate parts, create design solutions for tailored blanks and establish weld process parameters.

“We've accomplished a 100% success rate in producing tailored blank solutions which also delivered at least 30% in material savings. It's a remarkable achievement especially as we didn't know what parts would be supplied by the OEMs,” said Wood.

As well as designing and developing a manufacturing cell and in-process quality monitoring system, the programme has also involved a fitness-for-purpose exercise and the identification of suitable demonstrator parts. The final stages of the project are underway with the demonstrator testing programme almost complete.

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