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ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • MARCH 2014 13
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
news
industry
briefs
A Tornado fighter jet fitted with
metal components created on a
3D printer achieved a successful
test flight in England during
December, according to BAE
Systems, London. The plane was
equipped with a 3D-printed
protective cover for the cockpit
radio, a protective guard in the
landing gear, and support struts on
the air intake door. BAE says some
of the parts cost less than $165 to
manufacture and could potentially
save hundreds of thousands of
pounds every year.
.
Chromalloy, Palm Beach Gardens,
Fla., entered into three new long-
term parts and service
agreements with Pratt & Whitney,
East Hartford, Conn., involving
manufacturing and supply chain
activities on the new PurePower
PW1100G-JM engine and
aftermarket support on legacy
engines. Chromalloy will produce
investment cast parts and provide
advanced coatings, machining,
and drilling on other components.
The other two agreements cover
materials and services for several
aircraft engine platforms.
.
3D Systems, Rock Hill, S.C.,
acquired Xerox’s solid ink
engineering and development
teams, labs, and related patent
portfolio for $32.5 million. The
company expects the acquisition
of these printer design and
materials science teams together
with their labs and IP to catapult
its printers’ development and
manufacturing capabilities a
decade forward and substantially
accelerate revenue growth. As part
of the agreement, 3D Systems
added more than 100 Xerox
engineers and contractors
specializing in product design and
materials science to its global R&D
team. .
Alcoa to supply titanium and aluminum parts to Airbus
Alcoa Inc., N.Y., signed a
multi-year supply agreement with
Airbus, France, valued at approxi-
mately $110 million for value-add
titanium and aluminum aerospace
forgings. Alcoa will produce the
parts using its recently modern-
ized 50,000-ton press in Cleve-
land, which uses state-of-the-art
controls to meet stringent aero-
space specifications. The press is
also reportedly capable of produc-
ing the world’s largest and most
complex titanium, nickel, steel, and aluminum forgings.
Alcoa will supply titanium parts, including forgings used to connect the wing struc-
ture to the engine, for the A320neo, Airbus’s most fuel-efficient single-aisle jet. The agree-
ment also includes several large aluminum forgings for the A330 and A380—including the
A380 inner rear wing spar, the largest aerospace forging in the world—that will be made
using Alcoa’s 7085 alloy intended for large structural aircraft components. Most of these
forgings support the wing structure where strength-to-weight ratio is critical to efficient
flight performance. .
Sourcing rubber from dandelion juice
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME
and Continental AG, both in Germany, built the first pilot system to extract vast quantities
of dandelion rubber for making tires—an important milestone on the path to rubber pro-
curement in Europe. The project began in October 2013 with a goal of developing the pro-
duction process over the next five years so Continental can
manufacture tires made from dandelion rubber.
Molecular biologists at IME and researchers at the au-
tomotive supplier built a pilot facility inMünster capable of
producing natural rubber by the ton. Several hectares of a
dandelion variety that is particularly rich in rubber are also
being cultivated. The first prototype test tires made of
blends from dandelion rubber are scheduled to be tested on
public roads over the next few years. The natural rubber
product exhibits the same quality as conventional rubber
from rubber trees imported from subtropical countries.
However, unlike conventional rubber, the new rubber can
be harvested more cost effectively, better cultivated, and
grown in Germany as a sustainable raw material, even on
land areas not previously suited for agricultural crops.
Conflict-free tungsten program announced
A new collaboration between the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) and the
Tungsten Industry Conflict Minerals Council (TI-CMC) makes it easier for companies to
source conflict-free tungsten. Through the joint development of a specialized framework,
members of the TI-CMC may now choose to become validated as Democratic Republic
of the Congo conflict-free tungsten smelters under the CFSI’s Conflict-Free Smelter Pro-
gram. This marks the first time the CFSI and TI-CMC can provide information about
conflict-free tungsten smelters, just in time for reporting requirements on conflict min-
erals in 2014. For more information: Julie Schindall, 571/858-5721, ,
.
Alcoa signed a multi-year agreement to supply Airbus
with titanium and aluminum aerospace forgings for Airbus
aircraft, including the A320neo. Courtesy of Business
Wire.
Fraunhofer Institute scientists
transformed ordinary dandelions
from weeds into an agricultural
crop that produces abundant
natural rubber.
Courtesy of Fraunhofer IME.