Summary of ’Production of Aerospace Materials’

Marco Delgado Schwartz

November 6, 2016
Contents

1 Notes from the Author: 3

2 Introduction: 4
2.1 General background: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Advances in aerospace structures and materials: . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Overview: 7

4 Cutting 8
4.1 Separating multiple parts, no chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2 Separating multiple parts with chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.2.1 Laser Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2.2 Electrical discharge wire cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2.3 Water jet cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2.4 Abrasive water jet cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.3 Machining (single part and chips) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.3.1 Turning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.3.2 Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

5 Liquid Phase Processing 20

5.1 Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.1.1 Sand casting: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.1.2 Investment Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.1.3 Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.2 Liquid phase processing of polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.2.1 Injection molding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

6 Forming Processes 28
6.1 Important principles of deformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.2 Metal forming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.2.1 Rubber forming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6.2.2 Forging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6.3 Processes for Thermoplastic and Thermoset Composites . . . . . 32
6.3.1 Important aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.3.2 Lay up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.3.3 Resin Transfer Molding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.3.4 Vacuum Infusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.3.5 Forming of Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics . . . . . . . 37

1
7 Assembly of aircraft 38
7.1 Mounting division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7.2 Manufacturing division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7.3 Assembly jigs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

8 Riveting and Bolting 42

8.1 Rivets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8.2 Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

9 Adhesive bonding and Welding 43

9.1 Adhesive bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
9.2 Welding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

10 Quality 44
10.1 Quality terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
10.2 Product Realization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.2.1 Product focused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.2.2 Process focused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.2.3 System focused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10.2.4 Chain focused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10.2.5 Total quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10.3 Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10.4 Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
10.4.1 Visual Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
10.4.2 Ultrasonic Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
10.4.3 Acoustic Emission Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.4.4 Thermography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.4.5 Fluorescent Penetrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.4.6 Magnetic Ink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.4.7 Eddy Current Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
10.4.8 Radiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.4.9 Hardness Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

11 Lean Manufacturing 52
11.1 Different forms of waste: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
11.2 Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
11.3 Lean Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
11.4 Common Lean Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

12 Organization 56

2
Chapter 1

Notes from the Author and

overview:

The purpose of this document is to provide to the student a summary of the

most important items of the reader used in the TU Delft 3rd year course ”Pro-
duction of Aerospace materials”. Note that during this course you will have to
learn a lot of vocabulary and keep in mind all the different processes.

That is why the main goal of this document is to facilitate your learning of
all the keywords with the use mnemonics. These mnemonics have helped me to
learn the vocabulary quite fast and retain most of it successfully already after
the first go. Reviewing it is facilitated by the images, where one image can
be the key to remembering several keywords. You may want to use the same
mnemonics or replace them with your own. It helps a lot!

In the first chapters manufacturing techniques are discussed. These can be

summarized as follows:
• Casting and injection processes, where liquefied material fills the cavity.

• Shearing processes such as cutting and machining, where material is

removed (or cut). The final part consists of the remaining material.
• Forming processes, where applied forces deform the material into the
desired product.
• Assembly: A part made of multiple joined sub-parts.

The assembly section is followed by the chapter of riveting and bolting as well
as adhesive bonding and welding. These two chapters are quite well described
in the reader and thus are not declared again in this document.
The final parts go over management topics describing quality control, lean
manufacturing and organization.

3
Chapter 2

Introduction:

2.1 General background:

Due to the massive requirements that our society requires to function properly
and in harmony with nature, production and manufacture of materials plays
a huge role to maintain this equilibria. Aerospace engineers, with the mind
already set a light weight and efficient structures/machines, have made consid-
erable progress in this area. In fact, the aerospace industry will always be at
the forefront of lightweight technological developments and applications.

From an historical point of view, new materials and technology allowed of

course new creations, but it also opened new possibilities for the previous ma-
terials/technology.

Case study: As an example the mosquito is mentioned, an aircraft that

in combination with the newly commenced metal technology was build
mainly of wood, proving to be one of the most successful aircraft in WW
II, superior to many metal aircraft it had to compete with.

In addition the application of mathematics and other have improved the pro-
duction of structures with far more reliability (instead of trial and error and not
being able to describe unexpected events).

Finally, the engineers are not only meant to look for a technical solution to
a problem, however must be able to trade off between different solutions. The
application of organized research, only more or less applied after the Wright
brothers success and the entering of the World wars (around 1914), has made it
possible to make huge advancements in science and technology. (Before inven-
tions in the field of aerospace were more of a random hobby which often would
take their inventors to their death due to failures). Companies of different scales
and purposes would emerge and start taking part in the innovation process of
airplanes. (A few examples of companies are shown in the book at chapter 1.6)

4
2.2 Advances in aerospace structures and mate-
rials:
Every airplane requires a system of different aspects that have to work together.
In fact, the dependency of each aspect is so important that an improvement of
one part can have an impact on the rest of the airplane. In the following some
of the important developments are mentioned below, more or less in order of
their appearance.
• Engines:

Case study: Before the first flying machines lots of inventors

thought humans should be able to fly due to their far greater
strength than birds. Nevertheless, the strength to weight ratio of a
human is far lower than the one of a bird, as well as that the birds
heart beats at around 800 beats per minute, much more efficient
than a human. The requirement of greater strength while focusing
on being lightweight needed the application of aero-structures (in
order to be able to hold wings) as well as in the form of propulsion
(such as engines).

The Wright brothers had made their first successful aircraft.

Before it could fly though, they had to invent and apply a new
engine that was light and strong enough to be used on their
airplane. Only through the technological advancement there, their
airplane was possible to fly successfully.

• Wire braced structures: Components are held together with wires to make
them lightweight. In combination with two wings on top of each other,
biplanes could be built.
• (Semi) monocoque structures: Wire braced structures didnt allow the use
of the space inside efficiently, a problem as planes got larger and started
transporting. The application of the ’stressed skin’, where the skin takes
part in holding the structure allowed planes to be built much more space
and material efficient. The American aviation industry applied this idea
also to the wings, allowing large capacity fuselages.
• Airfoils: Another important improvement of airplanes was the application
of thick airfoils, which not only had a better aerodynamic performance, but
improved the wing structure, saving a lot of weight and allowing greater
and faster airplanes (as they e.g. did not need two wings anymore).
• Wooden aircraft: From 1915-1935 the major material used on airplanes
was wood, moving from open to closed structures. (At first bamboo was
used, which later on moved to spruce due to being lighter, stronger and
easier to produce). Production facilities were created that dealt with the
sophisticated wood crafting. The research and progress made in this area
allowed state of the art airplanes like the mosquito as mentioned before in
this chapter (case study).

5
• Metal constructions:

Case study: The move to metal constructions was caused partly

due to political views, that regarded this as the material of the
new era, leaving wood as something from the pre era. Additionally
due to the world wars, wood became scarce and too slow to manu-
facture, thus requiring the application of metals. (Junkers: ’metal
can be given any desired shape and dimension compared to wood,
is more reliable, stronger and less sensitive for corrosion...’)This
was at a cost of some very promising wooden projects, but gave
way to new machines/industries; still busy today in the research
of these types of materials. Finally, in March 1931 a three engine
Fokker (made of wood) crashed due to moisture weakening the glue
holding the wings. The consequence was the requirement of several
more routine inspections on the aircraft, which drove the costs of
maintaining such aircraft up high, giving a boost to metal aircrafts.

• Production companies: Given the world wars and other requirements of

airplanes, companies were created that would put together the various
disciplines such as research, design and manufacture.

Case study: A huge growth in airplane production was created,

such as in England, where in 1914 only few hundred people worked
with aircrafts, in 1918 it had increased to 350’000!

Being a company though also forced the construction of airplanes that

would always be at the state of the art by combining all disciplines together
(material choice, manufacture, computer simulations, etc.) in order to
compete in the market.
• Further improvements: With the success of the DC-2 and DC-3, metal
semi monocoque structured airplanes, these became a standard in aerospace
engineering. Further improvements continued with the reduction of riv-
ets, improving fail safe structures and further research in new materials
for better material efficiency.
• Applying fibres: The application of fibres due to their great material prop-
erties has allowed to make structures lighter and smoother. They have
though weaknesses such as not being able to plastically deform, which
causes safety issues to take into account.
• Applying sandwich structures: Sandwich structures are applied to increase
the moment of inertia of the skin and improve its rigidity. Although ex-
tremely efficient, its construction and production is limited and compli-
cated and thus still mainly used on small parts.

6
Chapter 3

Cutting

There are three types of cutting processes:

• Separating multiple parts with no chips such as shearing and punching
• Separating multiple parts with chips such as sawing and laser cutting

• Machining (single part and chips) such as milling and drilling

3.1 Separating multiple parts, no chips

During this process, shearing is used (through a cutting blade or a punch and
a die, similar to scissors and a paper punch) to separate parts. This does not
create any chips, but does create rough surfaces or other defects and usually
requires further machining.

Keyword: Shearing; the general process of using shear forces to sepa-

rate parts.

One can distinguish between two different shear processes, punching and blank-
ing. In punching the sheared slug is discarded, in blanking it is the part and
the rest is scrap.

7
 Keyword: Punching; works similar to a paper punch. What you punch
becomes scrap, just like when you hit someone in the face.

Keyword: Blanking; similar to a paper punch, but in this case the

punched part is the product. The doctor only cares about the punched
face of the ’blanked’ out guy, not the rest of the body.

Keyword: Slug; the part that gets punched. After the punch the face
looked as disgusting as a big fat slug.

During the process of shearing, there are three steps that cause the final cut:
• Indentation, its depth into the sheet is called roll over depth.
• Cutting, its depth is called Burnish depth and has a smooth finish due to
the sliding of the sheet against the punch/blade. Ductile materials have a
higher Burnish depth.
• Final shearing, its depth called fracture depth. This part of the sheet is
rough and ends with a burr. The burr height increases with the clearance
between the punch and die and the material ductility. Its size can be a
problem for subsequent operations.
These produce a final cut product as the schematic shown. The equipment
usually consists of a press with a punch and a die, where the material is laid
and lubrication is added. The process is finished with some deburring equipment
to smoothen the edges of the products. Here the major processing parameters:
• Shape of punch and die. Bevelling is the process in which the punch or
dies are shaped at an angle. This reduces the force required to cut the
material and noise made, while ensuring a better cut quality. Symmetric
bevelling eliminates also lateral forces acting on the punch or die.
• Material of punch and die or the material laid. Cutting brittle material
can cause small cracks which could reduce the fatigue resistance of the
material. A good finish can reduce this risk. Composite materials also

8
 tend to delaminate when punched or blanked or act abrasive on the cutting
tools.
• Lubrication between punch and die. The reduction in friction allows
clean cuts and a reduction in tool wear.

• Clearance between punch and die. Typical clearance is around 2-8% of

the sheet thickness. Softer material have smaller clearances.
• Nesting, highly important to reduce scrap material as much as possible.
On the minimum side though, the material should not be drawn into the
of the die, the ligaments should not fail, and no excessive burrs should
occur while also guaranteeing the safety of the operator.
• Deburring and Shaving; used to smoothen the edges.

9
This process is often used for pre-processing and making small or large product
series with a high cut accuracy. The time required is short, but the process can
mostly be dedicated only to sheets. Other limitations are the sheet thickness
(0.3 - 15 mm) and the unsuitable choice for cutting continuous fibre reinforced
polymers.

Keyword:Burr; the excess material perpendicular to the sheet surface

created by shearing process. Biting straight into a ’burr’ito leaves edges
on the side.

Keyword:Blank; the slug after blanking, used as a product. The doctor

left his face as a clean and ’blank’ product.

Keyword:Bevelling; angling the punch or die to reduce cutting force

and increase cut quality. Adopting a better angle allows you to ’be well’.

Keyword:Burnished; the Burnish dimension/depth/surface. Its so

smooth you can use the surface to shine the light on paper and ’burn’
it.

Keyword:Fracture depth and Breakout dimension. You use the rough

surface of a stone to fracture the prison wall and break out.

Keyword:Dishing; the slug is curved after leaving the press. This is

called dishing. The product of a shearing process can later be used as
’dishes’.

3.2 Separating multiple parts with chips

Another method to separate parts is by removing a narrow zone (kerf) in be-
tween. The removal of material can be done in several ways:
• mechanically, like sawing, grinding, water jet cutting, where chips are
created and removing them.
• thermally, like plasma arcs, lasers, electron beams, electrical charges,
where the material is evaporated, melted or burned away.

Keyword:Kerf, the narrow zone where material is removed to split a

piece. You can only cut straight into the wood. The lack of ’curv’es
made us want to call that straight a ’kerf ’.

Here a short summary on the different more elaborate methods used to cut
pieces by removing material:

10
3.2.1 Laser Cutting
• Laser Cutting uses optical energy on the surface of the work piece to melt
or evaporate portions of it. The kerf is typically 0.2mm wide. Unfortu-
nately, the laser itself is at most 10% efficient and the laser has to be close
to the material (0.5mm), making 3D laser cutting very expensive.
• It can cut metallic and non metallic materials. One has to pay attention
to the reflectivity (aluminium can give problems!) and thermal conduc-
tivity as well as the specific and latent heats for melting and evaporating
processes. The lower each of them, the better.
• May be used in combination of suction process or gas stream to improve
energy efficiency. Gases like oxygen, nitrogen or argon are used. Inert
gases are used for metals to leave an oxide free edge.

• The process is numerically controlled through a computer for accurate

control.
• Can cut plates as thick as 32mm (although due to focusing thick plates
will be finished with a taper) and with a minimum radius till 0.005 mm.
One should pay attention to high local temperatures as they may heat
treat the metals or in the case of composites degrade or burn at the edges.

• The equipment cost is high, since it requires computers and a large energy
feed (due to inefficient lasers). However from then on, the costs drastically
drop, such as for labour, raw material cost and programming. Addition-
ally, the flexibility this process offers with different materials and the low
set up times make it capable to compete in the market.

11
3.2.2 Electrical discharge wire cutting
• Electrical discharge wire cutting is based on the erosion of metals by spark
discharges. Charging the metal work piece (needs to be conductive!) and a
wire (made of brass, copper, tungten, etc.), the wire can be passed through
the material while creating sparks which act like saw tooth (similar to
contour cutting with a band saw).
• This process allows to cut plates as thick as 300mm at an incredible ac-
curacy of up to 2.5 µm. Although slow (5-6 mm/min) it is very flexible
and since it doesnt involve mechanical energy, properties such as hardness
and toughness of the workpiece dont affect the removal rate. (Useful for
producing products like punches and dies).
• The removal rate and surface roughness increase with increasing current
density and decreasing frequency of sparks. Also, the melting and latent
heats of the material, their increase will cause a decrease in the rate of
material removal.

12
3.2.3 Water jet cutting
• Water jet cutting makes use of the force delivered by a jet of water to cut
through work pieces. A pressure level of 400 MPa (4000 bar) is generally
required in order to propel the water to speeds up to Mach 2 and 3, leaving
a nozzle diameter in the range of 0.05 - 0.4mm.
• This process can only cut ’soft’ materials such as foam, soft rubber, paper,
leather, etc. In order to cut stronger materials, abrasive particles are
added to the water, creating a new process: abrasive water jet cutting.
• During this process no heat is produced, thus heat sensible materials won’t
be affected.
• The orifice of the nozzle is usually made of very hard materials such as
rubies (50 to 100 cutting hours) and diamonds (800 to 1200 cutting hours,
but 10 to 20 times more expensive).

13
3.2.4 Abrasive water jet cutting
• Abrasive water jet cutting is similar to water jet cutting, except that fine
abrasive particles are added. Their roughness/size is similar indicated as
with sandpaper, 120 Mesh making smooth surfaces and 50 Mesh making
rough, fast cuts.
• The wear occurs mostly in the mixing tube, not the orifice.

• Most materials can be cut with an abrasive water jet, such as steel, alu-
minium, ceramics, glass, etc. In the case of composites though there might
be a risk of delamination, especially if the cut is not started from the edge.
• A typical occurrence is the jetlag, where the jet of water is bent, since
it does not have any bending stiffness. Therefore cutting through corners
will leave behind tapers. The moving rate can be decreased, however one
may also risk kickbacks, where the jet is deflected into a different path.

• It has the ability to cut a kerf of 0.75 mm through a thickness up to 25

cm.

14
3.3 Machining (single part and chips)
Machining is the process of removing small chips from a material to create a
product, similar to an artist chiseling a sculpture. The chisel removes the chips
of the material, and thus a suitable material for it must be chosen. In addition
the chisel should have a certain geometry for efficient cutting.

Keyword: Rake face, the area which pushes the chip away. It is set
at an angle (rake angle), which typically is from -10 to 30 degrees. The
larger it is, the less force is required (its sharper). Rake is a synonym
for collecting, gathering, etc. If someone scratches metal away, it will
sound like ’rake, rake, rake’.

Keyword: Tool angle, the angle of the chisel.

Keyword: Clearance or relief angle (typical 6 degrees), to allow spring

back and decrease contact with the material, thus lower heat transfer.

The deformation process of the chip removal will cause heat, which lowers
the properties of the chisel and increases wear. Coolant and lubrication are used
to reduce these effects.

The force on the chisel can be decomposed into three forces:

• Thrust force
• Feed force
• Cutting force

The cutting speed times the cutting force (largest of all three forces) will give
the power required to cut the product. Since power is usually fixed, and greater
cutting force is required with harder materials, the variable that is most often

15
changed is the cutting speed. Controlling it visually helps, since it is usually
desirable to have discontinuous chip removal. Depending on the hardness of
the material, one may require also different types of chisels made of different
materials and coatings. For very hard materials ceramics can even be used,
however they are only suitable is no shocks are present during cutting. Below
a figure laying out some of these options: In general machining only requires

an initial high cost for the equipment and all other costs remain low from then
on, however this is a process that usually is only used for small to moderate
quantities. If added automation, the process can be sped up even more and
more products can be made at very high accuracy.

All in all there are three basic ways to machine the parts: Turning (lathing) or
milling.

3.3.1 Turning
During turning the work piece is rotating and the chisel is pushed into it. The
revolutions per minute times the diameter equals the cutting speed. It is impor-
tant to note that the smoothness of the surface is dependent on two things: The
wear of the chisel, responsible for the smoothness in the direction of rotation,
and the feed speed, responsible for the smoothness in the axial direction. To
guarantee also that the work pieces don’t wobble during rotation, the pieces are
clamped with very stiff clamps from the lathing machine.

3.3.2 Milling
Milling is used for non rotational products and thus has a larger range of possi-
ble products. In this case, the work piece remains fixed, while the milling tool
is translated. Note that there are two ways to mill, slab and face milling.

In the case of slab milling, when looked closely to the cutter, one can rec-
ognize the angles mentioned before for the chisel. In the case of face milling,
mostly the perimeter performs the cuts. Of course, there are still a few other

16
17
tools, each having their purpose during milling operations. It is crucial however
for the production of these tools that they are made precise.

An important addition to the milling processes is drilling, sometimes also made

with a separate machine. Since holes are common in structures, drilling is
widely applied. Observe how once again we can find the chisel geometries: No-

tice as well that in the middle, cutting is more difficult due to low cutting speed.

If two the holes or columns it is wished to add threading, one has to use taps
and screw plates. (This can also be done with lathing. )

Keyword:Tap; used to make an internal threading. When you open the

’tab’, the water goes inside the sink.

Keyword:Screw plate; used to make an external threading. When you

wash the ’plates’ you put them outside of the sink.

One last alternative for the milling machine is the use of a grinder, used
to finish products. In this case the heat is one important factor to take into
account (due to rake angle being negative as low as -60 degrees or more), as it
could melt the surface and make the grinder ineffective. Adding a coolant to
metals like aluminum will avoid this. If done properly, the heat, although high,
is carried away by the chips, and thus only a fraction of the heat produced is
conducted to the work piece. (Cutting speeds are very high, 30 m/s, and the
removed layer is much smaller than e.g. milling)

18
Chapter 4

Liquid Phase Processing

Liquid Phase Processing is the process in which a material is used in its liquid
state to shape it to the end product. This process is different with metals (cast-
ing) than with polymers, but they both make use of molds, dies and similar.
The difference in the process in mainly made due to the viscosity of the liquid
material, some of which will flow by themselves, some will require the addition
of forces.

First the metal processing shall be discussed, then the polymer will be reviewed.

4.1 Casting
Casting is the process in which molten metal is poured into a mold, left for
cooling, and finally the product is recovered by separating it from the mold.

Keyword: Foundry, the place where casting products are made. At the
foundry the make yummy metal ’fondue’.

Important aspects in molding are the temperature such as the melting tem-
perature of the material and the pressure.

Case study: Low melting point materials allow metallic molds. You
can cast aluminum in steel molds, however this is not possible with steel
in steel molds. For this one would require a ceramic mold, which can be
as simple as a sand mold.

All molds can withstand low pressure, however to increase production rate,
pressure may be applied, in which ceramic molds wont be an option, since they
are too brittle to use. Ceramic molds tend to be however cheaper, and thus
depending on the product series, one will have to choose between the two types:
Expendable molds (ceramic, sand, plaster, etc.), permanent molds (metal, com-
posites of metal and graphite, etc.).

In addition, there is the option to choose between perishable molds and reusable

19
ones. Perishable molds allow a greater freedom of geometrical features, since
one can damage the mold when removing it from the product.

4.1.1 Sand casting:

As a basic procedure in casting, sand casting shall be used as an example here.

• The mold itself is supported by a flask. Two piece molds consist of a cope
on top and a drag on bottom. The seam between them is the parting
line. (In case that more than two pieces are used, the middle ones are
called cheeks).
• A pouring basin or pouring cup is used to pour the molten metal into.
• A sprue, through which the molten metal flows downward. Its shapes
assures that the metal flows in a laminar way, so no air bubbles are mixed.
• The runner system, which has channels that guide the molten metal
from the sprue to the mold cavity, a.k.a. gates.
• Risers, which store additional metal so when the product starts cool-
ing and shrinking, more metal can be supplied into it. One can make a
distinction between open and blind risers.
• The Core, which contains the inserts to add to the product such as holes
or lettering.
• Vents, which are placed in the mold to transport gases and hot air.
• The Mold cavity, in which the liquid metal will gather and form the
final product.

Keyword: Flask, in which the mold is preserved. You use ’flask’s to

hold the best liquor for the best times.

20
 Keyword: Cope, the upper mold piece. The ’cop’, ’on top’ of his
massive motorcycle.

Keyword: Drag, the bottom mold piece. The cops motorcycle is so big,
it produces massive amounts of ’drag’.

Keyword: Pouring cup and sprue, where the metal is poured into.
The cop refills his motorcycles tank by ’pouring cups’ of fuel through the
’sprue’. Once it full, the motorcycle tank indicator blinks the word ’true’.

Keyword: Runner and Gates, the pathways for the liquid metal to pass.
As the cop is refilling his motorcycle, a ’runner’ with stolen money runs
by and away through a ’gate’ to the nearby forest.

Keyword: Riser, space to store extra liquid metal. The cop, in action
of the lost runner, writes flyers with a ’rise’ on the money award for
whomever would catch him, hanging them in the forest.

Keyword: Core, an ’inner’ mold to add hollow features to the product

such as holes. Finally the cop finds in the ’core’ of the forest the runner.

Inside the flask there is cop riding his massive motorcycle which produces
massive amounts of drag. He fills his motorcycles tank by pouring cups of fuel
into the sprue. Once the tank is full, the motorcycle indicator blinks ’true’.
As the cop is standing there, a runner with stolen money runs along and away
through a gate into the forest. The cop, in action of the lost runner, goes to
the forest and hangs flyers with a rise of money to whomever would find him.
When arriving to the core of the forest, he finally finds the runner.

21
 One starts inserting a pattern into the flask, after which the flask is filled
with sand. The sand is then compacted with e.g. hands or other. One can
choose between a one piece pattern or split pattern. It may be necessary to
add draft angles to the pattern to ensure easy removal from the sand molds.

For the actual casting process a few more things have to be taken into
account:
• The flow of the metal depends on its material properties such as viscosity
(the lower, the easier the metal flows) and the surface tension (the lower,
the better achievable details are possible).

• The cooling speed influences the solidification of the metal (alloy) and the
process time (the lower, the cheaper the process). During solidification the
metal will shrink (10 - 20 mm/m), reason why the mold cavity is larger
than the actual product. To avoid hot tears during shrinkage, the mold
should be allowed to be collapsible.

• The cooling direction should go from bottom up, such that the riser keeps
feeding liquid metal into the product while it cools and shrinks. Also parts
that are further away should cool first, so that the riser keeps effective.
• Parts should have the same thickness throughout if possible. A change in
thickness means that the larger part will take more time to cool down, a
hot spot, which means solidification will be different and affect the material
integrity. (Microporosity can be expected). If the thickness cannot be
changed, local cooling might also help, a.k.a. chill.
• Large flat areas should also be avoided, as they tend to warp after cooling.
If other high stresses are expected on the part after casting, they may be
relieved through heat treatment afterwards.

22
 • Most sand casting operations use silica sand (SiO2) since its common
and easy to handle while being resistant to high temperatures. To select
the sand it must have enough strength so it wont change during casting,
permeable to allow gases and steam to escape, collapsable to allow
casting to shrink and avoiding hot tears and surface quality to minimize
the need for finishing the product.
• As the smoothness of the finishing product increases, more attention will
have to be put on allowing gases to escape.

If these are not taken into consideration, failures such as hot tearing may occur,
in which local shrinkage is obstructed, resulting large stresses and ultimately
ending with cracks (and making the product often unusable).

23
4.1.2 Investment Casting
In the aerospace industry, what is more often used than sand casting is invest-
ment casting. Sand casting is not a feasible option for the often needed thin
thickness, but in addition allows the casting of multiple parts at the same time.

This process is also sometimes called lost-wax process, since the pattern is made
of wax. These parts can be connected into a tree, after which it is coated with
a ceramic. Later on, the ceramic is heated up, thus all wax is melted away, and
what is left is a ready to use mold. The metal is poured in and once cooled, the
ceramic is broken down through vibrations. A high accuracy can be obtained
from this process. Sometimes instead of wax polymers are used since they are
less delicate, however polymers are harder to remove and reuse.

4.1.3 Certification
To use cast products in aircraft/spacecraft, certain JAR/FAR requirements ap-
ply. The structural elements are classified as:
• Class 1: Critical single load path

• Class 2: Critical multiple load path

• Class 3: Non critical
A sub-classification is added, since castings may have internal flaws (e.g. micro
porosity). That is why an extra casting factor is added to the safety factor of
the part.
• Subclass A: 1.00 ¡= Casting factor ¡ 1.25
• Subclass B: 1.25 ¡= Casting factor ¡ 1.50
• Subclass A: 1.50 ¡= Casting factor ¡ 2.00

• Subclass A: 2.00 ¡= Casting factor

4.2 Liquid phase processing of polymers

The liquid phase process of polymers is different for the thermosets and ther-
moplastic polymers. Also, since the material properties of polymers are much

24
lower than that of metals, they are not used as structural elements in aerospace.
However adding fibers the mechanical properties can be increased a lot more
towards attractive alternatives from metal.

An important parameter to keep in mind though is the viscosity. Metals have a

low viscosity and flow easily, and monomers may behave similarly, but polymers
will behave very viscous. Adding fibers will increase the viscosity even further.
One comes to the point where one is not processing a liquid anymore, but
rather a soft solid. For example the difference betweeninjection molding and
compression molding is the viscosity of the material handled. (Compression
molding is considered in a later chapter).

4.2.1 Injection molding

Injection molding is the process in which a liquid thermoset or molten thermo-
plastic polymer is squeezed through an opening into a mold.

This process only allows short fiber reinforcement, as the screw would de-
stroy all longer fibers. The reinforcement is fed directly with the Most of the
time glass fibers are used, since they are low cost. Another option to add rein-
forcement to the polymer is to put the fibers in the mold and fill it then with
the polymer. This method is called over-molding and also allows the appli-
cation of long fibers. This is a very cost effective method that allows complex
structures to be produced fairly easy.

In general, the equipment cost of this process is quite high, since large forces
must be used to extrude the polymers, same with the molds. In addition, glass
fibers are expensive in comparison to metals (per unit of weight), thus the raw
material is also on the moderate to high side. Fortunately though the labor cost
is low, and thus, if the product series is large and the cycle time is short, this
process can become profitable. In addition the waste of the material is minimal
while highly accurate products can be produced, thus making it a useful pro-
duction alternative.

In addition, the following considerations must be taken into account:

• Temperature control is very important. Not controlling this correctly

could lead to e.g. premature curing (thermosets).
• For easy extraction of the product from the mold, draft angles should be
added.

25
 • The merging of flow fronts of either polymers will produce knitlines, in
where no of the reinforcements will be in between, resulting in a weak
section.

• The reinforcement of polymers consists of chopped fibers, which gets fur-

ther chopped into smaller pieces by the screw. When the size of the
reinforcement gets reduced so small that its similar to in all directions,
the reinforcement is becomes useless and only acts as a filler.

• The orientation of the reinforcement fibers will cause an increase in strength

in one direction while perpendicularly the product will act weakly. The
orientation of the fibers can be controlled within limits.

Thermoset
The screw of the extruder mixes the monomers of the thermoset with color
agents and reinforcements. To avoid premature polymerisation, the mixture
must be kept cool. After that, the mixture is injected into the heated mold,
where it spreads inside and cures. It may be possible that gases are produced
during the process, and thus ventilation must be taken into account. Once done,
the product is pushed out of the mold.

Thermoplastic
Thermoplastics need to be heated before they can be processed. To speed up
the heating, the material is provided in granulates. In addition, the move-
ment and compression of the feed hopper and screw will cause due to shearing
even more heat. In order to make this process more efficient, the screw is also
tapered, so that the pressure keeps building up as the material is pushed further.

An effect that might occur as the thermoplastic material is extruded is die

swell. If the compressive forces are high, the polymer may expand as soon
as it leaves the nozzle. This must be taken into design consideration, as large
displacements could occur.

26
Chapter 5

Forming Processes

In this section forming processes are discussed. This includes in the case of metal
forming rubber forming (for metal sheets) and forging, where half fabricates such
as sheets and blocks are formed into products.

Keyword:The application of external forces on a material, that deforms

it and remains as such after the release of forces (or reduction of tem-
perature in the case of polymers).

5.1 Important principles of deformation

Of course, forming has its limitation. One main property to consider is the
failure strain, which determines the malleability of the given material. Thus
materials such as ceramics are not suited for this process.

As usual, there are a few important parameters or phenomena to take into

account:
• Plastic deformation is based on the creation of dislocations within the
material through forces. This causes the effect of strain hardening.

• Some materials show the ability to deform super-plastic. Under small

forces and other appropriate conditions, large displacements can be intro-
duced into the metal without introducing strain hardening, as the crystals
will be allowed to slide past each other.
• Since fibers have a small allowable strain (1-4%), deformation techniques
such as shearing and rotating have to applied. These can be divided into
two types: Intra-ply, where only one sheet is sheared/rotated, or inter-ply,
which considers the interface of the different layers.
• The application of heat to affect the viscosity of the material to deform
will allow a reduction of forces needed to shape the component and increase
failure limits, of course at the cost of special equipment.

27
 • Another application of heat is heat treatment, in order to give the prod-
uct the desired material properties. These can be done both before (e.g.
to make it soft) and after forming.
• An important side effect of forming is spring back and residual stresses.
When a load is applied to a material and plastically deformed, it is also
deformed elastically. As the loads are removed, the elastic deformation
disappear as well, resulting in spring back. In case this spring back is not
possible, residual stresses will remain.

5.2 Metal forming

The forming of metal sheets1 may require different types of handling or process-
ing depending not only on the thickness, but also the complexity of the required
forming. For this a simple classification is made:
1. Undeformed parts: these sheets are mere cut outs and are not deformed.
The process most often used here is shearing.
2. Single curved parts with large bend radius: Typical examples are cylindri-
cal parts such as fuselages.
3. Single curved parts with small bend radius: Typical parts are straight
stringers.
4. Double curved parts, large radius: Typical parts are the nose of the cock-
pit.
5. Double curved parts, one large and one small radius: Most common parts;
typical examples are wing ribs and curved flanges.
6. Double curved parts, both small : Most complex shapes, may be limited.
1 Ingeneral, if the thickness is below 6 mm, the half fabricate is referred as a sheet. Oth-
erwise its considered a plate.

28
5.2.1 Rubber forming
Rubber forming is the most important process in the aircraft industry for form-
ing of metal sheets. (About 50% of all sheets are made by rubber forming).
It uses a press to squeeze together a hard (can be wood) with a soft (typically
rubber) die, in between the material that will get deformed. (One may choose
between male and female dies).

Despite having a relatively high cycle time (few min; although can be coun-
tered by processing several parts at a time) to other forming techniques and the
requirement of large forces (around 10’000 tonnes), the simplicity of the process
and the flexibility of the parts it can produce make it a useful production tech-
nique for small production series (100 - 2500).

A few other important points:

• Rubber forming is most appropriate for categories 3,5 and 6.
• It is limited to a thickness between 0.5 - 3 mm. Smaller thicknesses may
cause wrinkles and tears, larger will require too large forces.
• Size is of course another limitation, as the half fabricate cannot be larger
than the machine.
• Accuracy is only moderate. For higher accuracy additional or other actions
should be chosen.
• The only product related tool is the die, the other tool is a soft flexible
rubber die, thus driving equipment costs down.
• The rubber slab will have to be replaced after large wear. Wear is increased
with sharp edges or corners. The lifetime of the rubber tool is usually of
the order of 1000-10’000 strokes. Adding additional slabs can increase the
life time or protect the inner slabs. (Some presses uses water to press the
rubber down.)
• The soft tool allows (at least one side of the sheet) the sheet not to be
damaged, useful if coatings or similar have to preserved.

5.2.2 Forging
Another useful forming process is forging, where metals are formed into their
shapes by means of strong presses. Most of the time the metals are heated, so
that they become more ductile and less force is required to shape them. It is
however possible to do cold forging, as well as to use it for non metals. Depend-
ing on the amount a metal needs to be deformed and the force used to press,
one will require multiple forgings to achieve the final product.

In general there are two types of forging, open and (closed/)impression forg-
ing, where in open forging, the shape of the desired parts is not fixed by the
tools geometry (and the other one is).

In addition, some other considerations have to be taken into account:

29
• During the pressing (typically open forging) of metal, such as a cylinder,
the forging may cause it to barrel, leaving behind a barrel shape instead of
the cylinder. This has to do with the friction forces between the metal and
the die and thus barelling can be minimized with the addition of lubrica-

tion. Lubrication
also helps against wear and as a thermal barrier between the hot material
and the tools, while also being useful to prevent products to stick with
the tools.
• In impression forging, the amount of material that is to be squeezed be-
tween two dies is always more than required, to make sure all cavities are
filled. The material that is squeezed out at the sides is called ’flash’, which
needs to be trimmed away from the product at the end of the forging pro-
cess. The flash, which cools down faster and thus has a higher friction,
helps to block the material still in the dies, making sure all cavities can
be filled.

• There are three types of presses: Hydraulic presses, which are load
limited and slow (material may cool down); Mechanical presses, which
use flywheels, which means they are stroke limited (high speed at center,
zero speed at edge); Hammers, which are energy limited, but works at
high speeds, which allows complex shapes.

• The dies are made of a material that is strong and tough at elevated tem-
peratures, resistant to mechanical and thermal shock and wear. Common
to use is steel alloys, which are cast and then machined. The dies require
to take similar requirements as the ones used in casting, e.g. adding draft
angles and take into account shrinkage. Dies made of Cr-Ni steel are able
to make 10’000 - 20’000 pieces, Cr-W steel can manage up to 50’000 parts.
• During hot forging the material is heated such that it is ductile and strain
hardening can be postponed. This allows a grain structure where grains
are elongated (kinda like fibers), which is favorable for corrosion and fa-
tigue resistance. This property makes this process (forging) attractive and
commonly used in aerospace, despite the high cost.
• Just like in casting, the elevated temperatures may cause unequal cooling,
resulting in residual stresses and similar. Forging is thus not suitable for
thin walled parts nor sheets.

30
5.3 Processes for Thermoplastic and Thermoset
Composites
Composites are made of a mixture of materials, usually fibers reinforced by a
matrix made of polymers. (The fibers are responsible for strength and stiff-
ness, whereas the polymers provide inner shear and protection of the fibers.)
Even when only focusing on these types of composites, the possibilities due to
the many different properties of both fibers and polymers (e.g. Thermoset or
Thermoplastic) allow a great number of possibilities, in which one can prioritize
durability, operational temperatures, chemical resistance,etc.

Case study: Glass fiber is most often used for composites unless weight
becomes a major design driver. In that case, often carbon fiber is used
instead, which is applied to aerospace engineering, formula 1 cars or else.
However the cost of carbon fibers is too high to use if weight is not as
important.

Since short fiber composites have already been covered in chapter 5, this
part will only focus on long fiber composites, in which the flow of the polymer
doesn’t determine the fiber composition.

5.3.1 Important aspects

Thermosets vs. Thermoplastics
Before moving on, it is important to know the properties of thermoset and
thermoplastic polymers, since the process in which they are used is very different
due to their nature.
• Thermoset processing:The ingredients to process thermoset polymers
are monomers of different composition. The idea is quite simple: Take the
two or more components and let them react with each other. The reac-
tions between the monomers will result in cross linking of the molecules,
creating one mega molecular network. During this process temperature
control is crucial. In order to cure the monomers together effectively, one
requires high temperatures (175 Co ,using an oven). Lowering the tem-
perature will slow down and even halt the process. This of course can also
be useful when producing prepregs, in which case the mixture is kept at
low temperatures (-18 Co or less). Once ready, the prepregs can be taken
out, defrosted, applied and cured. This way one can store the partially
cured mixture for half to one year.
• Thermoplastic processing: Just like with thermosets, thermoplastics
also start with monomers. These however are polymerized into large
molecular chains, (no cross linking!), which entangle themselves a bit
like spaghetti and hold on together through secondary bongs (v.d.waals
forces, dipole-dipole or hydrogen bonding). When heated, the secondary
bonds weaken and the material becomes more fluid; cooled down, and the
original conditions are recovered. Although this may sound simpler to pro-
cess at first; thermoplastics require due to their high viscosity much higher
temperatures to be processed (PPS: 280Co , PEI: 350Co , etc.) and/or

31
 higher pressures (typically 200 Pa, 105 greater than thermosets). Since
such high temperatures are taking place, oxidation might be a threat and
thus needs to be accounted for as well (e.g. processing under nitrogen
conditions). Fortunately though, if all of this has been overcome, the
processing times are much shorter than for thermoset composites.
The preparation and mixing of the resin will usually require to be put before
application under a controlled lowering of pressure, in order to boil out all
entrapped air (voids).

Autoclaving and Molds

As already mentioned, it is vital to let the resin and reinforcement combination
to be cured in order to obtain a well working composite. Appropriate increases
in both temperature and pressure (150-200 Co and 10-15 bars) will lead to the
highest quality products. In order to use both high temperatures and pressures,
an autoclave, a special oven that can be pressurized, is often used.

As before mentioned, the temperature is used to allow proper curing (and speed-
ing it up), whereas the pressure is applied to compact the laminas and reduce
the voids to a minimum. Usually a vacuum is applied as well to the laminates
to remove as many voids as possible before applying pressure for curing. (Imag-
ine it as a bag, where inside is vacuum to remove all voids, and outside is the
pressure to compress it further.)

5.3.2 Lay up
Lay up is the process in which fibers with or without resin are placed onto/into
a mold. The reason layup is used is to achieve the desired fiber structure. (Per-
formance of a composite heavily relies on fiber orientation and layup sequence.)
Cutting into the correct shape and placing one lamina after the other, a laminate
can be produced. One could of course also use filament winding and pultrusion
and skip thus the placing and cutting process, sometimes reducing the required
cost/complexity.

Keyword: Lamina and laminate; individual sheets (lamina) laid up

together produce a laminate. Adding several ’lemons’ makes a great
’lemonade’.

After layup and before curing, the laminate is covered with peel ply, re-
lease film, bleeder fabric, breather fabric and vacuum bagging film.
The whole package is then applied to vacuum and made use of an autoclave.
(Note that if no high pressures are needed, you can also just use an oven.)

Air might be replaced with nitrogen (more expensive) in the risk a fire may
occur. Elevated pressures decrease the temperature at which self ignition oc-
curs in polymers. Note however that the use of heat means that the product
will once again shrink or show thermal stresses. (It is true that thermosets ex-
perience stress relaxation over time, but this is not taken into account for the
production.)

32
 Keyword: Peel ply, used to remove all other films added to the laminate
before curing. We decided to ’play’ a game, see who could ’peel’ an orange
fastest.

Keyword: Release film, to have minimal bondage between product and

the rest. The movie was finally ’released’.

Keyword:Bleeder fabric, which stores the excess of resins. I noticed

suddenly that I was ’bleeding’.

Keyword:Breather fabric, to be sure all air can be removed with the

vacuum pump. He had a hard time catching his ’breath’.

Keyword:Vacuum bagging film, to create the vacuum in the product.

Today we went to watch the movie ’Inside the vacuum’.

Today we went to watch the movie ’Inside the vacuum’. Waiting inside the
cinema for the advertisement to pass, my friend and I ’played’ a game, to see
who can ’peel’ an orange fastest. Finally, the ’film’ was ’released’ to the au-
dience. As I was watching, I noticed suddenly that due to all that peeling, my
nails were ’bleeding’. My friend also noticed it then, and he had a hard time
catching his ’breath’.

In addition:
• One can use dry(only the fibers) or wet(impregnated with resin; prepregs)
reinforcement while laying up. When dry reinforcement is used, one will
require impregnation with resin before curing can take place. For wet
reinforcement, the impregnation has already been done, however after
layup its necessary to put the product in a vacuum to extract all air
before put into the curing process.
• Cutting the material from a roll should be done with the minimal scrap
possible to reduce the expenditures of the already costly material. (Espe-
cially cutting at angles may cause additional scrap.)
• Each lamina has to be placed with care so that minimal displacements/damages
are made. This may include folds or increase in fiber gaps, which lower the
performance of the composite. Especially important is fiber alignment, as
it can be seen from the graph below. Even a simple misalignment of just
5o can result in a massive loss of 20% strength and stiffness.
• Since this process does not require presses or other similar tools, very large
products can be created such as windmill blades.
• Molds meet similar requirements as all previous methods described. This
means the inclusion of draft angles and similar to allow easier removal.

33
 They must also be temperature resistant in order to handle the curing
processes. Most of the time it wont though need to resist large forces, so
the material can be a cheap one. In some special cases, perishable molds
are used instead (for pressure vessels or similar). In other cases, the mold
is even left behind in order to create a sandwich structure. In that case
one must make sure that the mold is also not infused with resin. Finally,
the mold used to shape the composite is treated before application with
release agents. Not applying any or incorrectly the release agents will
result not only in product scrap, but mold damage or even scrap as well.
• The equipment required is quite minimal (rollers, gloves, etc.). Even au-
tomation is cheap compared to other processes, since no large forces are
required during layup. Labour however is very intensive if done by hand,
(low to moderate if automated,) and the cost of the material is quite high.
Therefore this process is only used for low product series (300 parts/year).

5.3.3 Resin Transfer Molding

Another commonly used composite production process is resin transfer molding,
which uses closed molds and pressure to produce parts that range in size and
complexity. During this process the fibers and resin are put one after the other
to form the composite component. Before placing the dry reinforcements, the

mold is sprayed or rubber with release agents. Then the often pre-shaped rein-
forcement (preform) is placed into the mold, which is then closed by a second
mold. Through a cavity liquid resin is pumped inside in order to impregnate
the reinforcement, until it flows from an outlet. Since resin will only flow from
high to low pressure, it may be needed to further pressurize the incoming resin
or applying a vacuum to the outlet. However the pressure difference must be
adequately chosen, since a higher pressure will increase flow speed, but may
risk fiber displacement. Managing pressure differences may require presses or
similar, in which the size of the product may become limited. Once complete,
the whole resin can be cured.

In addition one should keep an eye out for:

• Since this process is closed, the personnel will not be exposed to hazardous
liquids or vapors. Thus this can be considered a ’clean’ process with low
health concerns.

34
• The pressure difference to allow the resin to move through the reinforce-
ment is usually only between 5 - 10 bars. Thus the presses needed are
quite light compared to other already mentioned processes such as rubber
forming.
• To shorten the process cycle time, the tooling must be capable of with-
standing the curing temperatures. It must also be rigid enough to com-
press the reinforcement without distortion. Tooling will also usually be
chrome plated to protect it from the abrasive nature of the reinforcement.
Although the molds can be made of metal, they will result in heavy molds
with a very different thermal expansion rate. Materials such as epoxies
have thus been far more frequently.
• Critical factors for selecting a resin are the minimum viscosity and the time
and temperature this state can be maintained (pot life). Most frequently
thermosets are used, since thermoplastics don’t have such low viscosity.
(New developments may enable to use solvents to reduce thermoplastics
viscosity.) The time for processing should be kept as low as possible, so
that curing at appropriate temperatures can start while still in the resins
pot life.

• Reinforcement permeability will affect the direction of resin flow, which

may not be as simple to predict (software may be required). Special
caution has to be taken to avoid non impregnated areas (dry spots).
• Reinforcement porosity will not only determine the fiber volume fraction,
but also the amount of resin required and time to fill all voids.

• If the location of inlets and outlets are not properly chosen, risk of resin
free areas may apply. Another possible fault is the formation of channels
that may form (called runners), in which resin flows quickly from inlet to
outlet. This can usually not be predicted by software, since this depends
on how the fibers were placed on the mold. The choice of the location of
inlets and outlets may also determine the time required to impregnate the

reinforcement.
• The costs of this process depends highly on the cycle time. Material costs
are high and labor costs are moderate, while the equipment costs are
usually low to moderate. The flexibility this process allows, especially for
the production of complicated parts, makes this an attractive alternative.

35
5.3.4 Vacuum Infusion
Vacuum infusion is very similar to resin transfer molding, except that the flow
of the resin is only manipulated by vacuum applied to the outlets. This means
one can replace one of the molds with a foil, reducing tooling costs. (This may
leave behind not a smooth surface on one side.) This processing alternative
allows unlimited product size, the major benefit of this process.

5.3.5 Forming of Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics

In the case that thermoplastics are used to create composites, one has the advan-
tage that these can be reshaped. Typically laminates are made, which further
on are heated above the glass transition temperature, at which the resin will
become soft and ductile. At this point the laminate can be shaped just like with
the techniques mentioned before.

Note however that in this case, the deformation mechanisms are different. In
metals, one would rely on the elastic and plastic deformation of the material.
With fibers on the other hand, they are only capable of small elastic deforma-
tion (1-4%) and don’t have the ability to plastically deform. The deformation
techniques are thus instead intraply and interply shear, just as already described
in 6.1. (Intraply is limited by the locking angle.)

An extensively used forming technique applied in automotive industry (not

aerospace, product series are too small) involving these thermoplastics is com-
pression molding. The charge is heated and put inside the press, which will
deform the charge to its new shape. The resin will pull the fibers in such a
way that they deformation mechanisms are applied. Unfortunately the failure
limits are more complex than the metal counterparts, and experimentation may
sometimes be required.

36
Chapter 6

Assembly of aircraft

In aerospace the assemblies are always performed orderly and in a well defined
method. The reasons for choosing an assembly method are several, some exam-
ples given below:
• Production efficiency: Dividing the work into smaller portions allows
to impose delivery times to each part, thus minimizing waiting periods.
• Group work:Dividing the work also ensures that the talents of each
person/group/company is dedicated to the right parts. Missing workforce
or talents can thus also be recognized much faster. Of course, this also
includes political reasons. The work is divided in such a way that all
members of a company obtain their work share. This may also reduce
costs, as some resources can be better used in one location than in another.
• Economical reasons: Assemblies allow a much greater overview of where
the money is going. In addition, due to the schedule, parts don’t have to
sit there until finally being able to be used (which would drive up costs).
To the contrary, once the parts are produced, they are almost immediately
taken to the next assembly step.
• Accessibility and ease of production: Organizing the assembly steps
ensures all parts remain accessible at all times. Otherwise one may risk
of creating structures in which one cannot access anymore efficiently to
insert additional features.
• Maintenance: Dividing a structure into small parts allows that when
damages are found, only a small part needs to be replaced.
In aerospace, assemblies are split according to two main requirements. The
first is the mounting division, in which the aircraft is divided into parts that
require to be split for mounting purposes. This may include not only movable
parts, but also mounting the wings to the aircraft. The second one is the
manufacturing division, divisions needed for manufacturing and structural
reasons. This can be found when dealing with fuselages, wings, etc. where
dividing the structure is necessary for several reasons such as accessibility.

37
6.1 Mounting division
Mounting division are needed for an effective usage: transport, storage, main-
tenance and repair, or in their own function as movable parts. There are the
following requirements for these parts:

• Detachable and exchangeable: Type A; parts that need to replaced

on a regular basis must be exchangeable in a straightforward and quick
manner. (E.g. hatches, engines, landing gear, etc.) Type B; parts that
need to be replaced on a non regular basis due to incidental defects or
damages may take some time, should though still be simple. (E.g. Elec-
tronic systems). Type C; parts that need to exchanged in exceptional
cases may take several days to exchange. (E.g. damaged edge of wing,
flap or rudder, etc.)
• Special tools:The number of special tools should be minimized as much
as possible.

• Handling: The parts should be able to not only resist the loads they
were designed for, but also allow be able to withstand transportation and
handling.
Usually the parts of an assembly for mounting division are chosen first, since
structural solutions depend on their choice. (E.g. cutouts and position of
mounting)

6.2 Manufacturing division

Manufacturing divisions are implemented in order to improve economics, work
efficiency and accessibility among others. This also includes:
• The divisions of work should be divided in equally sized work packages,
so the work force can be used to its maximum potential.
• The divisions should provide for maximum accessibility around the struc-
ture and the work force. Not taking this account could cause disaster, such
as building a structure, which later cannot be filled in with the required
electronic systems.
• The divisions should enable easy transport. Size and weight may become
even more important if the parts are made by a different factory and have
to be imported e.g. by plane.

• The divisions should take into account the sizes of machinery available.
• The divisions should be made in the optimum structural place, especially
in order to make the joints as light as possible, or as easy to install as
possible. Often rigid parts will be assembled to flexible parts (flexible
in the sense that they can be adapted to fit the rigid parts), and other
considerations such as limiting the amount of divisions in situations that
need sealing later on.

38
Of course, divisions will always lead to an increase in weight. Thus one really
needs to keep the number of divisions as low as possible while still fulfilling all
requirements mentioned before.

Another point of concern are the mounting jigs (explained further in 7.3) re-
quired to assemble the parts. A simple jig may cost less than a complex one, yet
having too many simple jigs may overshoot the price compared to a complex
one. In addition, its use must be taken into account. Frequent use will require
a more often re-calibration, which is very labor intensive.

6.3 Assembly jigs

In both small and middle sized assembly, jigs are constantly in use. Parts are
attached to them at a certain position and joined to create one larger part. Jigs

have two basic functions:

• Support:The jig must be able to support the parts to enable proper
handling of them. This means the clamping devices should be easily de-
tachable and enough space should be given such that the parts can be
removed again after assembly.
• Positioning:One must be able to position the parts on a jig accurately.
For that reason, jigs must be very stiff and rigid, so that they not only
carry the loads to hold the parts, but don’t deform. Jigs are also fitted
with different brackets, collars and stop surfaces to define the positioning
points. Measuring tools are added to it if required.
Further important requirements:
• Large jigs will require a proper foundation of the floor due to the large
weight, required to keep it a rigid and stiff structure.

• Accessibility should be considered for the design of a jig. The height of

the breast is the most suited such that work man can easily install the
parts to the jig and remove them again. Jigs often have abilities to rotate
or similar to ease even further the work on them. Diagonal components
are usually omitted, and instead the loads are carried by thick steel tubes
for example.

• The ability to remove the parts once assembled should of course also be
taken into account and made as easy/safe as possible. This may mean

39
 that the jig requires removable parts. The clamping devices should also
be chosen adequately, depending on the loads and stiffness the clamp needs
to provide. (E.g. hydraulic or screwing clamp vs. lever operated clamp
or other)
• The space occupied by a jig should be minimal. That is why jigs often
come with the ability to store multiple parts on them for different purposes
or even stack them vertically.

• Small jigs should be movable, so a flexible arrangement in the factory is

possible. (May even be a regular change.)
• The jigs should be built in such a way that changes can be applied to
them easily, such as new attachments, but also the ability to calibrate.
• The thermal expansion of the jig should be taken into account, thus keep-
ing the temperature constant in the factory is quite important. (A 15 m
aluminum bar expands 7.2 mm at a change in temperature of 5 Co !)

40
Chapter 7

Riveting and Bolting

Two very commonly used methods of joining two parts is riveting and bolting.
The main difference is that rivets are deformed during installation and thus usu-
ally is intended for permanent installations, whereas bolts are easily removable.
Bolts are also applied in cases of high loads or tensile loads, since they perform
far better than the rivets during such load cases.
Check the reader for more information! (Especially all the equations)

41
Chapter 8

Adhesive bonding and

Welding

An alternative to the already discussed joining method of riveting and bolting

is the permanents adhesive bonding or welding.
Check the reader for more information! (Especially all the equations)

42
Chapter 9

Quality

Quality is a relative standard. What for one is high quality, the other one may
perceive it as low quality. Typically that has to do with the needs of a customer
or the rules set by society. Manufacturers have to be able to have a good notion
of this and to be able to provide quality products, or as Steve Jobs said: ”You
never knew you wanted it until you saw it.”

Quality can be defined as:

Keyword: Quality; the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear

on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs. (and make customers
buy a product/service again and again).

How quality is achieved is always very product and service related, however
one could set up a following strategy:
1. Document the needs of the customers and all additional ones (such as
technical or warranty) that may be important. Not knowing and stating
this means things may be left out for interpretation or the product is only
successful after several trials and errors (costs time and money!).
2. Research on alternatives and other. What the customer mentions as his
needs may only be the tip of the ice berg or different customers may have
different needs. In addition, the needs can be accomplished in different
ways sometimes, although too many ways may indicate the needs were
not specified well enough (or a trade off is needed).
3. Planning all the equipment, steps, quantity of manpower and tools, etc.
that are required to produce the product/service to the declared stan-
dards. This also includes the choice of suppliers, choice of factory location,
transport, etc.
Note that a product/service that is faulty will usually be replaced free of charge,
but it represents are real cost to the company and may put their customers on
doubt.

43
9.1 Quality terms
There are several terms that revolve around the definition of quality. (You have
to learn these!) The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has
declared the following terms and definitions:

Hitler wanted to create a new world ’system’ that would discriminate all
non German like. He would ’implement’ his rules by sending guards with paint
buckets that would paint your hair blonde and your eyes blue. The guards would
’control’ not to miss anybody by putting on blonde filter sun glasses. Anybody
not blonde would stand out immediately. People who had ’planned’ to talk to
Hitler would have to read a ’manual’ explaining how to calm him down during
his anger attacks and accept to go at one ones risk. Once entering into his
office, which was an ’audit’orium with lots of his guards on one side and him
all the way at the top, one could talk to him. Hitler however was extremely self
concious, reason why the guards would be there to offer applause and positive
comments in order to re’assure’ him.

44
9.2 Product Realization
There are several ways to implement quality assurance in the realization of a
product and satisfy the needs of a customer. Especially mass production, where
the manufacturer and customer relationship is not direct, an adequate quality
assurance is required.

9.2.1 Product focused

Before a product is given ready for sale, one final inspection is made on the
product. Products that are not conform the requirements are rejected. This

method turns out to be expensive and inefficient. One requires to inspect each
product (takes time), some broken products may still pass through the one in-
spection and worst of all, products that may have been faulty at the beginning
of the process have used unnecessary material and equipment.

Of course, a way to improve this system is not to use a 100% final inspec-
tion, but reduce it to random checks and make use of statistical models, with
which a reliable picture can be made of the quality of the products.

9.2.2 Process focused

A further improvement to the random checks mentioned in 10.2.1 is to adapt the
checks not only at the end of the production process, but along it. A product
that does not correspond the quality required can be removed much earlier
from the production process. This inspection method gives a much clearer

picture of the efficiency of the process, since information can be extracted from
each products phase. The number of checks increases and the efficiency of the
process can be better controlled. The probability that a faulty product comes
out despite all checks is far lower than in the final inspection process.

45
9.2.3 System focused
How do you qualify whether a product through a phase process is faulty or not?
How do you make sure that a broken equipment is properly replaced/repaired?
The quality check should not only focus on the process, but the whole system
around it. E.g. Training people adequately will make sure that they are able
to report the faulty products in time. In other words, quality assurance should
also include supporting processes such as personnel, maintenance, policy and
finance. Most companies make use of this quality assurance process.

9.2.4 Chain focused

With today’s industries working together, one must expand the quality assur-
ance process even further. E.g. an airplane is built from parts made in different
companies, but one must make sure that when they all come together, they are
up to standard. All links of the production chain must therefore be optimized
as well, including the transport management and other.

9.2.5 Total quality

Companies and chains of companies cannot afford to be stuck in time. Devel-
opments are continuously made and cannot be ignored. Total quality implies
that a company has an active role to prepare itself for the future.

9.3 Inspection
Inspections are made on a product by comparing it with the design of the part
and the given tolerances. A personal may use a checklist to ensure himself all
requirements have been fulfilled, and if not, a different procedure is taken. (One
must also take into account the rejection process!)

Of course, the inspections are dependent not only the quality of the product,
but the quality of the inspection. E.g. its better to use a caliper than a ruler,
since it has a higher accuracy. Formally the tolerances are listed as follows:
Recallibration is usually given to a calibration responsible such as an external

calibration laboratory. All working equipment can be sent there, but usually its
easier to send one ”master”, to which later one can calibrate one self the rest of
the equipment.
This is also useful for the long term, so that items can be re-calibrated with
the master, stored away for exactly these purposes.

Infrequently used instruments could be calibrated prior their use, whereas fre-
quently used instruments can be checked at regular intervals, depending on how
long the accuracy can be maintained and similar. This may seem like a lot of

46
effort, yet if an instrument is found to be outside of its calibration tolerance, all
products that were made with it are suspect of faults.

In the case however that after inspection of instrument or product all is ad-
equate, a way of marking it is given, such as document, a stamp or similar, so
that it can easily be recognized and assure all parties that the item has indeed
undergone some process of inspection. (The stamp or documentation can even
include more information on what type of inspection.)

9.4 Testing
Testing may be necessary for a multitude of reasons, such as inspection, design
test or research. Of course, it is always preferable, yet not always possible (e.g.
for structural tests), that these tests are non destructive, so that the product
may still be used after testing.

9.4.1 Visual Inspection

The most simple method for inspection is visual. The most obvious mistakes
can be filtered out, and a trained personal may even filter a wider range of
possible mistakes.

9.4.2 Ultrasonic Inspection

Using pulses of ultrasonic sound and measuring reflection times and intensities,
a lot of information can be gathered from the quality of the material, including
voids or delaminations inside the material. (This technology is also used to look
into the belly of a pregnant woman). It is important to note that if checked in
air, a coupling system is required, or else the testing can be performed under
water, since otherwise the large difference in densities will reflect a large amount
of the sound waves.

47
9.4.3 Acoustic Emission Analysis
Acoustic emission analysis is used mostly for non conductive components, such
as composites or concrete. (For metals one can use eddy current technique.)
Unfortunately ultrasound is not always the best option, since the material at-
tenuates the sound too much and testing becomes difficult. Acoustic emission
analysis is a difficult and specialized technique in which sound packages are emit-
ted and timed. The time differences are analyzed and with much experience or
programs, one may detect reliably faults in the product.

9.4.4 Thermography
Since all objects emit infrared radiation at all times, these can be studied with
an infrared camera. The advantage of thermography with respect to ultrasound
testing is that no coupling mechanism or underwater testing is required, but all
can be done in air.

Figure 9.1: Thermography of solar panels, showing how some panels are per-
forming better than others.

9.4.5 Fluorescent Penetrant

To detect open to surface flaws and cracks, fluorescent or deeply colored dye
penetrants are used. After washing the surface, the cracks will keep the dye
safe, which can then be seen under black light or similar.

9.4.6 Magnetic Ink

Magnetic ink can be used to detect surface cracks on ferro magnetic parts.
Cracks and voids will cause a magnetic leak, to which particles are attracted to.
(The crack acts like a pole of a magnet.)

48
9.4.7 Eddy Current Technique
Eddy current technique can be applied to any conductive metal and has a very
high resolution. The technique involves a coil which is subjected to ac cur-
rent. This causes current to be induced into the metal object through the eddy
currents. Cracks and defects will cause a change of performance in induction,
which can be measured by measuring the impedance (like resistance but with
magnitude AND phase).

49
This technique can be done at high surface speeds and results in very accu-
rate reading in short times.

9.4.8 Radiography
To the opposite side of the light spectrum relative to infrared waves, one can
make use of X-rays to perform a radiography. This has the advantage of ultra-
sonic and acoustic testing that one whole image of the product is made. Defects
and cracks will cause a change in thickness, changes in densities absorb more or
less of the X-rays, resulting in the radiography image.

9.4.9 Hardness Testing

Hardness testing is a destructive testing method, required to test the mechanical
properties of a product. Indentation such as through a Rockwell test measure
the mechanical resistance to permanent indentation. This allows a quick test
(5-10 sec depending on material) of the hardness of the material and tensile
strength.

50
Chapter 10

Lean Manufacturing

For an industry to remain successful, it is vital to maximize the profit to costs

ratio. Efficiency is therefore one of the most important factors to take into
account, if the industry desires to remain in the business for a longer term. The
process that can fulfill these best is ”lean manufacturing”.

Case study: A big improvement of production processes originates

from Japan. Just after WWII, the countries economy and industry were
severely damaged. In addition, the country had a fragmented market,
very limited natural resources and little money left among many other
problems during this period. It was therefore vital that if the country
wanted to rehabilitate itself, it had to rebuild their economy in a smart
way if they ever wanted to catch up with the industries around the world.

Among others, the automotive industry Toyota had taken part in

working to become a competitive industry. The board soon realized
that this required a new industrial concept, able to compete in the
international market, and thus appointed one of their engineers, Taaiichi
Ohno (When appointing him with the task they offered him spicy food:
”This spicy ’Tai’ food is making me sneeze... ’Aaichi’ !... Oh no...”, to
come up with a new promising production concept. The result of his
work was the basis of Lean manufacturing, at that time the so called
TPS (Toyota Production System), which over time has been expanded
further.

Lean manufacture is not just a method of work, it also is a way of thinking.

It is often defined as ”manufacturing without waste”, or also better:

51
 Keyword:Lean thinking is the dynamic, knowledge driven and customer
focused process, through which all people in a defined enterprise contin-
uously eliminate waste with the goal of creating value. Business is all
about deceive (Dynamic, Education, Customers, Eliminate, Value). //
Although nobody knows how the ’dynamics’ of a bike work, people love
them and the business thrives in ’customers’. The ’educated’ ones will
know how ’value’able they are, since bikes don’t produce any ’waste’ and
one does not need to pay taxes for them.

Going further into the definition of lean manufacturing:

• Customer focused: The lean system acts as a pull market, in which it
is the customers demands to which the market is adapted to. Ways to
improve this is product variety and reduction of the lead times.

• Knowledge driven:One requires a full understanding of the working

system. Only this way waste and ways of improvement can be recognized.
The workers are therefore especially important, since they work hands
on with the progress and can reflect best what may be in need. This
is another indication of how important it is to communicate with people
from all levels.
• Eliminating waste:An ideal system would eliminate all waste. Waste
can be anything that requires resources, yet does not add value to the
product or service. Some of the waste can be eliminated immediately, such
as through recycling or similar, other types of waste, such as transport of
parts will always be necessary and unavoidable.

• Creating value:There are several ways to describe value, yet one may
agree on the fact that it all generates economic profit.
• Dynamic and continuous: One can always keep improving. With the
rise of new technologies or mind sets, an ongoing effort must be applied
to improving the system and reducing the waste.

10.1 Different forms of waste:

The actions an industry has to perform can be categorized into three types:

1. Actions, which actually create value.

2. Actions, that create no value, but are necessary.
3. Actions, which do not create value and can be eliminated.
As already mentioned, for type 2, an example would be transportation, which
is an action that is necessary, yet does not create value. Nevertheless, if the
transport can be improved, e.g. a shorter road, that would offer waste that can
be eliminated, type 3.

Waste may come in many ways such as:

52
 • Overproduction: Producing more, sooner or faster than required by the
next process is useless, since the consequence is storage of materials and
products. Causes: unbalanced workload, unlevelled scheduling, etc.
• Waiting time:Time a worker has to wait while machine is processing.
Causes: long machine set up time, unplanned maintenance, etc.
• Processing waste: Unnecessary processing steps or products. Causes:
Lack of communication, product changes without process changes, etc.
• Transportation: Transportation does not any value to the product, thus
should be minimized. Causes: Poor plant layout, large batch size, etc.
• Movement or motion: Every movement and motion is time wasted. In
improving a process, one should not improve waste motion, but operation.
Causes: Poor people or machine efficiency, wrong method, etc.
• Rework:Extra work that needs to be done because the first time the
product was defective. Causes are: poor quality, inadequate training, etc.
• Underutilising people Not taking total advantage of people’s abilities.
Causes: wrong business culture, poor hiring, etc.

10.2 Value
Of course, lean manufacturing involves value. Value can be categorized in three
elements:
• Value identification: ”Identifying what promises need to be made to at-
tract a customer.” Value is defined as how the various stakeholders (cus-
tomers, government, business partners, etc.) find their benefit or reward
in exchange of their contribution to the enterprise. It is crucial to identify
all of these, especially the ones with the greatest impact. Only then one
can move on to propose how this value can be obtained.
• Value proposition: ”Offering the promises to a customer.” The value
proposition is where the needs and requirements of the key stakeholder
come together. The goal is to put together the efforts and resources in such
a way that a value can be derived. Once the structure of requirements,
needs and values is identified, the sequence of actions that provide that
value has to be determined, from beginning till end.
• Value delivery:”Fulfilling the promise to the customer.” Value delivery
means adding value at every step of the value stream and delivering it to
the stakeholders.

10.3 Lean Methods

As already mentioned, lean manufacturing is more about the philosophy it car-
ries, and there are no golden rules to follow that will make you succeed always.
However there are a few ways one can approach this, one of which is the 5S
method:

53
 1. Sort: All necessary and unnecessary items have to be identified and the
unnecessary ones are removed.

2. Simplify: All items are designated a place and properly arranged for a
clear organization.
3. Scrub: At this point the workplace is cleaned and checked.
4. Standardise: In this part the processes are documented on the methods
or changes.

5. Sustain: This is the stage where people accept the changes and adapt to
the proposed method.
The girlfriend was to come for the first time to his room. He ’sorted’ everything,
and to make it ’simple’, stuffed all unnecessary stuff into the closet, at which he
finally gave a quick ’scrub’ to his place. As the girlfriend came in, she offered
her compliments. He just bragged about how this was his ’standard’, and how
much he cared about ’sustainability’ and discipline.

10.4 Common Lean Methods

• Just in time is a system in which producing and delivering the items at
the right time and amounts. The larger the group/enterprise, the more
difficult this becomes, yet keeping as close as possible to it will result in
large benefits in terms of cost reduction.

• Load Leveling basically adapts to the number of demands customer do.

A useful parameter is tact time:

Keyword:Tact time, the ratio of available working minutes per

day over the daily quantity required by the customer.

Using this ratio, the bottleneck of a production process can be identified

and the cycle time can be adapted accordingly.

• Cellular Manufacturing consists of cells that people and machines re-

quire to perform a specific step from the work sequence. No part contin-
uous to the next operation until the previous one has been completed.

One must also take into account high variety production. Customers will have
different needs, and thus its important that this remains possible. Typically
similar products will be put into families, which can be processed on the same
equipment in the same work sequence, thus minimizing the change over time.

54
Chapter 11

Organization

55