News: AMRC lead on advanced aerospace alloy research

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, will lead a new £6m European-funded project to develop an advanced lightweight alloy for the aerospace industry.

Securing funding via the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme, the MMTech project will develop new ways of working with an advanced material called gamma titanium aluminide.

Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over seven years (2014 to 2020). Led by industry, the projects ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation. The ultimate aim is for projects to be a means to drive economic growth and create jobs.

Based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) and a partner in the HVM Catapult (the government's strategic initiative that aims to revitalise the manufacturing industry), the AMRC focuses on advanced machining and materials research for aerospace and other high-value manufacturing sectors.

A partnership between industry and academia, which has become a model for research centres worldwide, the AMRC generates income from private sector members such as Boeing, Airbus, Sarfran and Rolls-Royce and government and European funding like Horizon 2020. The AMRC has previously led European-funded projects to develop innovative technologies including metals additive manufacturing for aerospace, environmentally-friendly manufacturing techniques for composites, factory design and advanced assembly technologies.

The research consortium for MMTech includes two Rotherham-based SMEs – precision engineer Advanced Manufacturing (Sheffield) Ltd, and technology development specialist Teks Sarl Ltd – as well as industry partners from France, Italy and Spain.

The project will also involve specialist researchers at the University of Strathclyde and Imperial College London in the UK, and Mondragon University and the IK4-Ideko research centre in Spain.

The Nuclear AMRC will work alongside its sister centre to apply techniques such as laser cladding to the alloy.

Professor Keith Ridgway CBE, executive dean of the University of Sheffield AMRC, said: "Titanium aluminide is very light and strong, particularly at high temperatures, which makes it a very attractive material for aero engine components.

"Unfortunately, it is notoriously difficult to use. This project will examine new powder production methods, and new casting, machining and 3D printing techniques."

The aim is to develop new techniques to manufacture and repair turbine blades and other aeroengine components, using titanium aluminide.

In November, Professor Ridgway outlined plans for the ground-breaking centre to more than double its turnover to in excess of £80m over the next five years.

AMRC website

Images: AMRC

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News: AMP firms race ahead with biocomposites

Companies on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham that are researching the use of biocomposites are attracting the interest of automotive clients interested in making bodywork panels for cars from materials such as hemp and cashew nut resin.

The £100,000 ELCOMAP (Environmentally friendly lightweight composite materials for aerodynamic body panels) project has been researching the potential alternatives to composite technologies currently in use such as carbon fibre and epoxy resin systems.

The technology has the potential to replace some or all of these raw materials with sustainable carbon-neutral alternatives that can significantly improve the environmental performance of composites manufacturing and revolutionise the production of low volume specialist components for high performance vehicles.

Project partners include Performance Engineered Solutions (PES) Ltd, TEKS UK Ltd and the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing.

Instead of working to create flat fascia panels, the team set themselves the challenge of creating a rear bonnet/boot from a Porsche racecar. The original steel part was measured using a 3D optical scanner, a layup and assembly drawings were created and special tools were designed for manufacturing prototype carbon fibre moulds.

The companies used the clean room, large oven and autoclave in the AMRC Composite Centre to produce the prototype parts, and also drew on the expertise of the research group.

After successfully producing two Porsche panels, the team challenged themselves further by making a larger and more complex Subaru front end.

The panels were finished using conventional automotive painting and lacquering. After initial laboratory testing, the parts were subjected to a real-life challenge – the Porsche panels were fixed to a car and trialled on the Serre Chevalier race circuit at speeds of over 100mph. The panels performed just as well as the steel original even though the final Porsche part weighed 3.9kg compared to the 10.4kg weight of the original steel part.

Teks has showcased the biocomposite concept to partners in the motorsport community, especially in the rally sport sector. Roland Krain, general manager at Teks, said: "Our rally clients are very interested in using high performance renewable materials for a greener more sustainable motorsport, paving the way for a wider greener automotive future."

TEKS and PES are now talking to a number of automotive clients of different sizes to provide pre-series structural panels for extensive life cycle testing.

A state-of-the-art facility allows the AMRC Composite Centre to provide a full range of design, manufacturing, assembly and structural testing services for advanced composite materials. It has enabled the two companies to draw on the resources and expertise they needed to demonstrate the benefits of biocomposites for this niche market.

Dan Fleetcroft, engineering design director at PES, said: "For a company of our size, it'd be very difficult to pull all the resources together in one environment to make it viable to carry out this kind of research project.

"To drive new technologies and innovation into the market takes collaboration, knowledge and investment. The AMRC is at the forefront of developing new manufacturing technologies, so we become aware of them more readily than through trying to read all the journals and research papers."

PES Ltd website
Teks website
AMRC website

Images: AMRC

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News: Rotherham expertise on show at low carbon vehicle event

Project partners from Rotherham working on pioneering research will showcase their work this week at Cenex LCV2013, the UK's premier low carbon vehicle event for showcasing new technology and networking.

Rotherham will be home to The Proving Factory, a £22m government-backed manufacturing initiative that will take low-carbon vehicle technologies designed by small high-tech British companies and university research departments and prove their viability in production to increase their chances of being adopted by major motor manufacturers.

Part of Tata Steel's Brinsworth site will house the new component manufacturing facility as part of the initiative that aims to bridge the gap (or "Valley of Death") between small enterprises developing leading edge low carbon technology and large vehicle manufacturers.

The Proving Factory will be taking over the whole of Hall One at the exhibition being held at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. The Proving Factory's founders, Productiv and Tata Steel, and investing partners MIRA and MTC (part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult), will be joined by the technology developers: Bladon Jets, Flybrid, Torotrak, Drive Systems Design, Libralato. Other supporting partners include Jaguar Land Rover, Schaeffler, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC in Rotherham) and the Midlands Assembly Network.

The event will also see Magnomatics, a Sheffield company specialising in the development of energy efficient technologies, named as the newest addition to The Proving Factory. A high-technology spin-out company formed in 2006 from the internationally renowned research group in Electrical Machines and Drives at the University of Sheffield, Magnomatics develops and delivers novel proprietary magnetic transmissions and ultra compact and efficient motors and generators for some of the world's largest multinationals and is active in a range of industries, including automotive, renewable energy, aerospace, marine and defence.

The Niche Vehicle Network will also be represented at the event where it will be showcasing the results of a number of R&D projects. This includes the £100,000 ELCOMAP (Environmentally friendly lightweight composite materials for aerodynamic body panels) project researching the potential alternatives to composite technologies currently in use such as carbon fibre and epoxy resin systems. The technology has the potential to revolutionise the production of low volume specialist components for high performance vehicles.

Project partners include a number of firms based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham - Performance Engineered Solutions (PES) Ltd, TEKS UK Ltd and the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing.

The Niche Vehicle Network will also be announcing the winners of its 2013 Niche Vehicle R&D Competition.

Cenex LCV website
Proving Factory website

Images: Cenex LCV

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News: Rotherham to host the best of Yorkshire's advanced engineers

A workshop highlighting UK innovation and aptitude within the advanced engineering sector is taking place on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham later this month.

Organised by UK Trade & Investment and the Yorkshire Gold Business Club, the free workshop takes place on the morning of August 13 at the AMP Technology Centre.

Speakers include Roland Krain, research and development manager at TEKS, the French high tech company based on the AMP that is developing new products and processes for the manufacturing and structural analysis of novel materials.

Also speaking will be AMP-residents, Shirley Harrison, project manager at The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing and Tom Fripp, managing director of Fripp Design.

It follows the Advanced Engineering, Aerospace and Automotive Sector summit at Lancaster House in London that will bring together some 90 or so global business leaders with British-based businesspeople to showcase British excellence through the use of a narrative on the strengths of the sector.

The London event will include a session from experts at Rolls-Royce on how super alloys have developed and helped Rolls-Royce maintain a competitive advantage.

Yorkshire Gold Business Club website

UKTI website

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News: Research goes beyond the COMET

TEKS is continuing to work on a major pan-European collaborative research project callled COMET, which aims to develop industrial robots into cost effective, accurate and reliable machining solutions.

The French SME, which has a R&D facility in Rotherham, is actively involved in process design and optimisation and advanced manufacturing in the aerospace, energy and sport sectors.


Most manufacturers currently use cells made up of CNC machining systems and use computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programs when manufacturing their products using automation.

TEKS and their project partners are working to increase the accuracy of a robotic machining system, well beyond current standard, and make them comparable to current CNC milling machine tools. The innovative robot-based machining systems that are being developed are flexible, reliable and predictable and could provide an average of 30% cost efficiency savings in comparison to machine tools.

The project, which also includes The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing as a partner, is addressing the fact that industrial robots lack absolute positioning accuracy, are unable to reject disturbances in terms of process forces and lack reliable programming and simulation tools to ensure right first time machining, once production commences.

The main aim of the project is to use a number of innovative approaches to overcome the traditional disadvantages of robots to manufacture precision components (such as in aluminium for the aerospace sector) and COMET is set to achieve this goal.

TEKS has recently been exploring the potential of the COMET technology in other market sectors. One particular application comes from the civil engineering sector and the use of long range laser scanning to accurately record topographical features.

Where a survey of a quarry or opencast mine would create a massive data file of around 30-40 GB, COMET technology enables the data to be surfaced and then machined out of a light weight material such as polystyrene using a robot. The resulting model can then be easily displayed without the need for expensive computer hardware.

Mark Packham, director of Mining Surveys, a specialist surveying firm in Chesterfield, said: "We are very interested in this technology and see a great potential for it, it combines our speed and accuracy with hands on visualization not possible to date."

The COMET project is co-funded by the European Commission as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP) adopted in 2008.

TEKS website

Comet website

Images: cometproject.eu

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News: TEKS partners in major research project

TEKS are one of the industrial partners in a major pan-European collaborative research project callled COMET, which aims to develop industrial robots into cost effective, accurate and reliable machining solutions.

TEKS, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, and their partners are developing innovative robot-based machining systems that are flexible, reliable and predictable and which could provide an average of 30% cost efficiency savings in comparison to machine tools. A second equally important objective of the project is to increase the accuracy of a robotic machining system well beyond current standard and make them comparable to current CNC milling machine tools.

The project, which also includes The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing as a partner, is testing the view that industrial robot technology could provide an excellent base for machining being both flexible (due to their layout) and cost efficient (robots typically cost five times less than machine tools). The proposed approach is however not without challenges to be overcome. Currently whilst robots are very agile, this agility results in a reduced stiffness compared to conventional machine tools.

Roland Krain, R&D manager, from TEKS explains the potential benefits of this approach: "Traditionally robots are used as handling solutions for assembly. If machining is required in a robotic line or cell, the robot typically would place the part in a conventional machine tool. Such tools range from the high tens of thousands pounds to several hundred thousand pounds.

"A robotic machining cell could provide a cost effective machining solution. A second hand robot can typically be purchased for £15k, along with a good quality high speed spindle for £20k, giving the end user multi axis machining capability for a fraction of the cost of a comparable conventional machine tool. Obviously the second hand robot has to be in "as new" condition, be well maintained and have a compatible controller otherwise the accuracy required might not be achieved.

"The challenge is to overcome the current issues with robots around reduced stiffness and dynamic accuracy, but TEKS and its consortium partners are well on the way to achieve this."

TEKS is a privately owned French SME actively involved in process design and optimisation, project management, training and technology exploitation. The company was established to respond to a need identified in the aerospace supply chain to introduce greater levels of process optimisation formally seen in the automotive sector.

TEKS website
COMET project website

Images: tatasteeleurope.com

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News: TEKS targets manufacturing effectiveness

TEKS, the hi-tech French company with its UK base in Rotherham, has announced a range of solutions to help manufacturers improve the efficiency of their machining activities.

TEKS is a privately owned French SME actively involved in process design and optimisation, project management, training and technology exploitation. The company was established to respond to a need identified in the aerospace supply chain to introduce greater levels of process optimisation formally seen in the automotive sector.

As part of their consultancy services TEKS offer two software solutions for manufacturers. CUTPRO and SHOP-PRO allow production engineers to analyse and optimise machining operations throughout the entire machining process, so improving efficiency and reducing production errors and scrap rates.

Roland Krain, research and development manager at TEKS said: "Our involvement with organisations, from large multinationals to SME's have helped us on many projects to deliver best practice solution for our clients, ranging from production cell layouts and 6- Sigma process improvement projects to specifying dedicated software solutions for manufacturing companies."

TEKS are working with a number of European partners in the automotive and aerospace sector, including Avio, Daimler AG, DIAD Group and CRF(Centro Ricerche Fiat).

They continue to work with fellow residents on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (AMRC) on EU project such as COMETA, which is developing the application of composites in fast machines tools, and COPERNICO, using virtual simulation to improve factory layouts.

TEKS website

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News: TEKS joins AMRC on AMP

French high tech company, TEKS, has moved into the AMP Technology Centre on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham.

TEKS is a privately owned French SME actively involved in process design and optimisation, project management, training and technology exploitation. The company was established to respond to a need identified in the aerospace supply chain to introduce greater levels of process optimisation formally seen in the automotive sector.

The company is developing new products and processes for the manufacturing and structural analysis of novel materials, a key area of research as the aerospace industry strives to find lighter materials and high temperature and wear resistance materials and coatings to improve the efficiency of commercial aircraft.

TEKS is a member of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (AMRC), also based at the AMP, and are actively involved in a portfolio of national and European funded research projects.

One project in which TEKS and the AMRC are partners, is the EU project called COMETA which is developing the application of composites in fast machine tools.

Organisations and companies across Europe are working together to solve the problems caused by heat and vibration in next generation machine tools by incorporating polymer and metal composites.

TEKS website
AMP website

Images: AMP

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