NESMONIC

Manufacture of aeronautical components without machining 

Financed by:

File number: SP1-JTI-CS-2012-03

Program: Clean Sky

Partners

• University of Birmingham (Reino Unido)

• Manufacturing Technology Centre Limited LBG/MTC (Reino Unido)

• Ceit-IK4

Summary

The project aims to respond to a Clean Sky Joint Undertaking requirement for the manufacture of static aeronautical components in Inconel 718 by means of Final Isostatic Hot Pressing (NSHIP). Three partners with complementary capacities in the required knowledge areas participate in the project. Knowledge areas that include the manufacture and characterization of powders, Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) and the modeling of the dimensional changes that occur in it, the development of low-cost tools, as well as the microstructural characterization and its relationship with mechanical properties and processing parameters.

Powder NSHIP can revolutionize the manufacturing of complex aeronautical components by allowing significant improvement in material utilization, leading to huge cost savings as well as significant environmental benefits.

However, the exploitation of this technology is not immediate and its use requires facing a series of challenges such as: the difficulty of obtaining nickel superalloys with properties similar to current forged products using HIP, the high cost of tooling, the Tool dust interaction and lack of reliable information on the performance of Inconel 718 components produced using HIP.

In the project, throughout its two-year duration, the consortium will use an innovative and coordinated approach to be able to satisfactorily face the aforementioned challenges.

Ceit's role in the project

Ceit is the project coordinator. Both the Program Manager and the Project Manager are researchers from Ceit. As coordinator, Ceit is responsible for preparing, managing, monitoring and coordinating activities. Furthermore, Ceit is responsible for:

• Establish the components on which the developed technology will be validated, setting the geometric specifications, the mechanical properties and the requirements that need to be met.

• Evaluate Inconel 718 powders, physical and chemical properties, response to HIP.

• HIP tests that allow establishing the processing window by means of the density, microstructure and mechanical properties of the specimens that are manufactured.

• Evaluation and monitoring of the tests and results with NADCAP approval that are carried out.

• Collaborate in the design of the tools for the HIP of large and small demonstrators.