How to Meet Aerospace’s Material Challenges and More at IMTS

The complexity of aerospace parts has often necessitated the use of advanced machine tools such as five-axis machines and mill-turns. Recently, additive manufacturing has made waves in the field for its ability to create parts physically impossible to make through subtractive machining.

Aerospace manufacturing is a high-precision, high-tolerance market, one which requires up-to-date equipment and processes to meet customer requirements. Five-axis machines, multitasking machines and precision grinders are all common in this market, and IMTS 2024 will offer a wide selection of all these machine types. The same goes for the process control software that helps shops meet traceability requirements and the machine monitoring that enables them to achieve significant process optimization.

Beyond equipment on the show floor, IMTS programming includes several talks about current challenges and opportunities in the market, with sessions centered on materials, tooling, machining strategies and more.

Nick Pflugh, chief commercial officer at 6K Additive, will center his talk, “Alleviating Supply Chain Pressures for Titanium and Nickel Production for Aerospace, Defense and Automotive Industries” on US policies and grants that companies can use to pursue new ways of recycling rare earth metals critical to aerospace. In particular, Pflugh will focus on methods for producing recycled titanium and nickel ingots and additive manufacturing-ready powder. Attendees can learn more at the talk, which takes place Wednesday, September 11, from 1:15 – 2:10 p.m. in W194-A as part of the IMTS Conference.

Brad Lemke, VP of application and services at Nikon SLM Solutions, will also focus on additive manufacturing in aerospace, but from the angle of machines. His talk, “Unleashing Additive Manufacturing's Power: Large Format Machines and Productivity Redefining Serial Production,” will discuss and demonstrate how large-format laser powder bed fusion can provide a flexible, reliable means of serial production in high-tolerance markets. This talk is part of the Succeeding with Powder Bed Fusion workshop, and will take place Wednesday September 11 from 2:15 – 2:45 p.m. in W194-B.

For a third perspective on additive manufacturing’s usefulness to aerospace manufacturers, Mark Blosser, director of technology solutions at Ceratizit USA, will speak about using AM to produce tooling for machining parts in the aerospace, automotive and medical industries. His talk, “Revolutionizing Tool Design and Performance: The Role of Additive 3D Printing,” will discuss the possibilities of additive tool design in general before focusing on the specific case of the company’s MaxiMill 211-DC, which Ceratizit says includes several additively produced features that improve its performance in aerospace applications. Blosser’s talk takes place Tuesday, September 10 from 10:00 – 10:55 a.m. in W193-B as part of the IMTS Conference.

Sumitomo Electric Carbide will also discuss tooling, with Applications Engineer George Schendal discussing NCB100 binderless CBN, a cutting tool material it says will be able to improve performance, tool life and finish in difficult-to-cut materials. In particular, the company points out titanium machining as a prime candidate for tools made of the materials, with more details to come in “Cut Titanium 10 Times Faster: Binderless CBN.” This talk will take place Wednesday, September 11 from 10:00 – 10:55 a.m. in room W193-B as part of the IMTS Conference.

To learn more about advances in machine tools well-suited to aerospace manufacturing, Mazak’s “Multi-Tasking Continues to Elevate Manufacturing” will address recent refinements in multitasking machines, as well as the benefits they can have on productivity. Chuck Birkle, vice president of sales and marketing at Mazak, and Jared Leick, corporate accounts & product group manager at Mazak, will lead this discussion on Wednesday, September 11^th, from 2:15 – 3:10 p.m. in room W192-B as part of the IMTS Conference.