Optimizing Machining of Titanium Aerospace Parts

Randal S. Von Moll - Technical Sales Director - Fives Cincinnati

2

Titanium Aircraft Parts

3

Presentation Topics

Titanium 101 Trends & drivers for new aircraft designs Machine tool and process constraints Application examples Extreme titanium machining results

4

Titanium – What is it and why do we use it? Titanium is a natural element found on Earth  It’s a surface mined metallic ore Titanium is alloyed with iron, aluminum, vanadium, molybdenum, and others metal to create grades of what we call ‘titanium’ Titanium has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal  Titanium is 45% lighter than steel and stronger  Titanium offers great stiffness and fatigue resistance  Titanium has a high melting point, higher than steel – Ti = 1,649º C (3000º F) – Steel = 1540º C (2800º F)

Titanium ore

Processed titanium

Titanium is relatively light weight and highly corrosive-resistant material;  Titanium is the perfect choice for heavy load/structural and/or connective aircraft parts Titanium powder

5

Titanium – Machining properties Titanium can be difficult to machine  Titanium alloy is fairly hard, but not as hard as some heat-treated steels  Forgings typically have a hard crust surface of impurities that make it difficult to cut thru the outer surface  If machining generates extreme heat work hardening can occur making it even harder to machine  Titanium is tough on cutting tools Titanium is very ductile (formable) and extremely fatigue resistant making suitable for a variety of applications  Medical, dental, and aerospace

It not uncommon for finished part to weigh less than 50% of rough material weight. Sometimes they weigh much less!

6

Titanium – Processing methods High-torque / low-speed machining  Common with large part manufacturing  Parts are made from billets or forgings and require heavy stock removal and long cycle times – Processed with slow feedrate and at a low rpm • eg., 3 - 4 ipm @ 150 rpm – It is not uncommon for parts to be processed over different stations to machine all the features – Use large cutting tools for large part features • Allows heavier cuts and reduces cycle time

View of the Main Landing Gear Component

Complex 5-axis / 5-sided Features

up to 5 m

7

Optimizing 5-Axis Aircraft Parts Machining Industry Trends & Drivers for Titanium Parts  New Aircraft programs increasing worldwide demand – China, C919; Russia MS21; etc.  Increased use of composites in aircraft designs is increasing Titanium content – Corrosion issues between aluminum & carbon-graphite composite materials – Superior strength to weight ratio vs. steel or aluminum – New Defense aircraft programs – eg., F-35 JSF – New Commercial aircraft programs – Boeing 787, Airbus A350XWB, etc.  Aircraft parts are getting more complex and more accurate  Multi-Spindle Roughing – Single Spindle Finishing

8

Optimizing 5-Axis Aircraft Parts Machining Industry Challenges for Titanium Parts  New alloys like Ti 5553 more difficult to cut than older Ti 6Al4V  Aircraft parts are getting more complex and more accurate – Design for Assembly  World-wide availability of raw material is limited  Currently not enough spindle capacity in the world to meet projected production rate requirements – Some Boeing reports suggest over 600 spindle shortfall to backlog demand

9

Determinate Assembly  Digital Thread  Sophisticated 3D modeling software  Digital detail parts designs – Digital data drives machine tool cutter paths  The finished machined parts, by design and digital manufacturing process: – Fit together without further fitting, shimming, or secondary machining processes – Simpler/less assembly tooling required – Interchangeable/replaceable parts

10

Critical Success Factors for Optimizing Titanium Machining - Machine tool and process considerations

MRR (Metal Removal Rate) volume in³/min can be impacted by many factors: – Available Spindle Torque (Nm or lb.ft); not necessarily high power – High Dynamic Stiffness • High Structural Stiffness • Good vibration damping characteristics – Stiff toolholder/spindle interface – bending moment limits – Cutting tool life – High performance coolant system • High pressure/high flow flood & through-spindle coolant system – Cutting tool type and stiffness (tool breakage) – Specific part features (ie., thin walls and/or floors) – Cutting strategies

11

Tool Interface Bending Moment Limits

KM4X100 has 2x bending moment limit as HSK125A KM4X125 has 3x bending moment limit as HSK125A

12

Titanium is a very poor conductor of heat Heat transfer during milling Titanium

Mild Steel

Cutter 60%

Chip 75%

Part 10%

Cutter 15%

Chip 25%

Part 15%

13

Application Examples

14

CINCINNATI Aerospace Worldwide Installations* Boeing Contour Seapac Nortrak Neuvant

Bombardier Menasco/Goodrich Northstar

Boeing

Short Bros. Milacron Mayflower

Bristol Cormer

Bombardier Heroux Devtek Les Industries RTI Claro NMF

Boeing

Acromil ADI Amro Fab AMSI Arden BE Aerospace Brek Burns & Row Calcor Camarillo Dyn Castle Prec. CC Ind. Dasco Fairfield Forrest General Dynamics Lockheed Martin McDonnell Douglas Menasco NC Dynamics Northrop Notthoff Eng. Pamco PCA Aero Ralee Rockwell Int'l Shultz Smith Aero Super-K Teledyne Triumph Structures Western Methods Wichita Mfg

Dassault Ratier Figeac Alenia

China Nat.Aero.

Daewoo Kia Korea Aero Korean Air Samsung

Asco

Ellanef GKN Boeing B-Tec Hexcel Gen Dyn Rockwell Mitsubishi Heavy

Lockheed Goodrich Vought Beacon Bell Gen Dyn Glover Hexcel Lockheed Menasco Vought

Shanghai Aircraft

BAE Sys

AIDC Chenfeng Taiwan Aero

Lockheed McCann Precision GKN McDonnell/ Douglas

BAE Boeing Brittain GKN Spirit Tect

* Not all shown

Chengdu Tusas Aero

Crestview Aero Boeing Summa United Tech

Embraer

Titanium spindle purchases trending 5:1 to aluminum in past 5 years

Boeing

15

High-Performance Machining of Titanium Boeing Portland Titanium, stainless and 4140 steel flap tracks Various Titanium Landing gear Components Giddings & Lewis HMC 1250 Multiple 4-Axis & 5-Axis versions

T-REX fixed Spindle   

5,000 rpm 2200 Nm (1623 lb-ft) torque continuous Full power at 257 rpm

Tilt Spindle   

6,000 rpm 1,161 Nm (856 lb-ft) torque continuous Full power at 317 rpm

16

High-Performance Machining of Titanium Kongsberg Vapenfabrik ThyssenKrupp BMW Rolls-Royce Volvo Aero MTU/ Titanium/Inconel  Jet Engine housings  Compressors  Turbine disks  Rings Giddings & Lewis Vertical Turning Centers

17

High-Performance Machining of Titanium Boeing – Portland Oregon Titanium & Stainless steel flap carriages & flap tracks Cincinnati 5-Axis TC-40 Cell Full part turnkeys

18

High-Performance Machining of Titanium GKN Monitor Aerospace – Amityville, NY Roughing and finishing defense aircraft bulkheads (2-up) Cincinnati 3-Spindle Profilers

19

High-Performance Machining of Titanium Rolls Royce – Barnoldswick, UK Titanium and Stainless Steel Fan Blades for Boeing 787 Engines (4) Cincinnati MEGA 4-Axis in CINCRON Cell

1+ m

20

High-Performance Machining of Titanium Tect Aerospace – Wichita, KS Roughing and Finishing Titanium Components (3) Machine Cincinnati MEGA 5, CINCRON Cell Application turnkey

Pylon

21

High-Performance Machining of Titanium Goodrich – Tullahoma, TN Roughing and Finishing Titanium Landing Gear Components for Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin (4) Cincinnati U5 Universal Machining Centers and (5) Cincinnati 6-Spindle Profilers

22

High-Performance Machining of Titanium Goodrich & ADI Large Titanium Landing Gear components Giddings & Lewis Horizontal Boring Mills

23

Recent Partnerships in Titanium Productivity UBM (Ural Boeing Manufacturing)  Joint venture – Boeing/VSMPO  Greenfield facility with Cincinnati as exclusive machine tool supplier VSMPO  Strategy to machine parts at Mill to reduce logistics and related cost  First order 2007 VASO  Airbus Titanium Component Supplier Hongdu Aviation – China  Heavy growth in Titanium machining  Cincinnati is preferred supplier

24

Titanium Processing Solutions in Growing Aerospace Markets - $79M Investment (Phase 1) UBM - Boeing  (6) 5-Spindle 5-Axis Ti WR Gantries – 3500 rpm 2523 Nm torque HSK125A spindles – 787 wing box parts; 27 different part numbers  (4) MEGA 5 HMC  (4) HMC-1600 VSMPO  (4) 3-Spindle Ti WR Gantries  (2) 4 Spindle Ti WR Gantries  (2) 5 Spindle Ti WR Gantries  CINCRON Cell with (3) MEGA 4-axis and (1) MEGA 5-axis  (2) CINCRON Cells each with (1) H5 1000 and (3) HPC 4-axis  Application Team Key Solution – Truck Beam & Inner Cylinder

25

UBM – Russia Titanium side of body connecting components for Boeing Wide Body Commercial Aircraft

26

New Generation 3 & 5-Axis XT Profilers XT-Profilers utilize Cincinnati’s fieldproven spindle carriers  High torque: 2520 Nm (1860 ft-lb) S1 continuous rating per spindle  Over 1/3 hp (0.25 kW) per rpm  Maximum torque up to 195 rpm  68 hp (51 kW) S1 continuous rating per Spindle  Spindle taper alternatives: – HSK125A – KM4X100 – KM4X125

3-Axis XT Profiler

5-Axis XT Profiler

27

Fives Cincinnati 5-Axis 5-Spindle XT Profiler

28

XT Profiler Testing Conditions Test Material – 6Al4V Titanium  5-up – all (5) spindles simultaneously  Cutting Tools • Kennametal HARVI cutters • 3” diameter indexable carbide • 9” gage length modular  Coolant • Houghton Hocut® 

* Test cuts designed for peak MRR; results

will vary depending on material, tooling and cutting parameters

29

X & Y-Axis Profile & Slot Cuts Profile Cuts Metal Removal Rate • 12.83 in3/min per spindle • 64.15 in3/min for (5) spindles Slot Cuts Metal Removal Rate* • 20.0 in3/min per spindle • 100 in3/min for (5) spindles! 1639 cm³/min Profile Cuts

Slot Cuts

30

True Full 5-Axis Cuts

5-Axis Bobsled Cut – full slot single pass 16 in3/min per spindle 80 in3/min for (5) spindles * limited by insufficient chip relief on cutter body

31

All Cuts Made at 115% of Tool Interface Bending Moment Limit

Fretting corrosion

32

Summary results of XT Profiler Test Cuts Cutting Test Results Comparison Per Spindle MRR Round-2 HSK125A MRR

Round-1 KM4X100 MRR

Profile

10.4 in³/min

12.8 in³/min

Full Slot

9.9 in³/min

20 in³/min

5-Axis Bobsled

7.8 in³/min

16 in³/min

Stellram HFM

11.0 in³/min

N/A

33

Giddings & Lewis

   

Fives Cincinnati Fives Giddings & Lewis Fives Liné Machines Fives Forest Liné

34