Wallwork showcasing its advanced processes at FIA
Above: Specialising in advanced aerospace coatings technology, Wallwork conducts extensive in-house research and development.
Since the last Farnborough Airshow in 2014, aerospace heat treatment and hard coatings specialist, the Wallwork Group, has invested an additional £2.5 million in buildings, plant, training and research, to extend and deepen services for the aerospace industry. The company has also gained more aerospace approvals for processes at all their UK sites to ensure a national service.
Above: Gas tightness of ring seals within aero engines is crucial. High magnification images enable the effectiveness of vacuum brazing of the seals to be verified.
Capacity to produce complex components by vacuum brazing has been doubled at the Cambridge site and a new state-of the art vacuum brazing workshop has been established at Manchester.
A new building at Cambridge increases the plant size there by 25%, creating capacity for expansion of existing processes and the introduction of new services such as mechanical testing.
Above: Wallwork is one of just a few UK heat treatment companies able to process aluminium and magnesium to aerospace industry standards.
Advanced heat treatment services have also increased. The aluminium HT service is now firmly established and augmented by services to heat treat magnesium. Nitriding capacity has grown and can now accommodate much larger components whilst the extended range of treatments now includes low temperature nitride processing in addition to thermal techniques.
Above: Nitron Flight hard coatings reduce wear, erosion and encrustation on engine compressor blades.
Aerospace coating services continue to advance rapidly. Nitron Flight and Nitron O, patent processes to improve engine performance and extend the life of titanium bearings respectively, continue to attract new users. A new environmentally friendly process, Nitron CA, to replace hard chrome plating (HCP) is attracting interest as deadlines near to phase out HCP because of the toxicity of the materials involved.
Above: Nitron O hard coatings enhance longevity of titanium bearing used in undercarriages, by improving load capacity and creating a low friction surface.
Wallwork Group also continues to be the only official partner in the UK for the CemeCon range of specialist carbon (diamond) and other aerospace coatings for carbide tooling used to significantly prolong tool life in composite drilling and cutting.
Experts will be on hand throughout FIA to discuss heat treatments, special coating, duplex processes, issues of metallurgy and the collaborative partnering and research programmes undertaken by the company.
