Aerospace
The aerospace/aviation industry requires the highest standards of manufacturing and part quality. Component failure is simply not an option on flight-critical aero-engine and power transmission components.
REM’s industry-leading isotropic superfinishing technology, the ISF® Process, is the specified surface finishing/surface polishing process for a wide range of aerospace power transmission and aero-engine applications because of its exceptional performance benefits; its proven process reliability and repeatability over decades of processing runs and tens of thousands of flight-critical components; and its range of peer-reviewed, published technical papers/studies.
Aerospace Gearing
The ISF Process has been proven to be capable of maintaining the tight profile tolerances of spur, helical, and spiral bevel aerospace gearing for a wide range of rotorcraft, VTOL (vertical takeoff and lift), and fixed-wing applications, while imparting significant increases to component life/operating safety margin linked to gear failure modes such as contact fatigue, wear, and scuffing. The technology has been proven to outperform incumbent surface finishing technologies in extreme condition and loss-of-lubricant (LOL)/oil-out testing such as black oxide and honing in multiple third party technical studies. The generated ISF® Surface allows for additional component and system design options due to the improved load distribution that it offers. Furthermore, the ISF Process can finish multiple part features simultaneously (example – gear flanks and bearing surfaces), thereby providing the potential to reduce manufacturing/operating steps and manufacturing costs. Many of these benefits apply to other, non-gear, power transfer components as well.
Additionally, the ISF Process has been proven to be capable of repairing used, lightly damaged flight-critical gearing allowing otherwise scrap components to be put back into service. Technical studies have shown that these ISF Process repaired gears equal or exceed the fatigue life performance of new, non-ISF Processed gears.
Airfoils and Blisks
When applied to airfoil and airfoil like components (including blisks) in aero-engine/jet engine applications, REM’s ISF Process can achieve extremely low surface roughness finishes (< 2µin / 0.5 µm ) while maintaining critical blade geometries including leading edges, trailing edges, blade tips, and dovetails. The ISF Surface has also been shown to be capable of aiding in maintaining blade cleanliness in addition to the obvious laminar flow property improvements and derivative system efficiency increases (especially during engine acceleration events).
Common Aerospace Applications for the ISF Process:
- Main and Intermediate Transmission Gears
- Turbine Engine Power Gears
- Main Transmission Bearings
- Airfoils
- Helical Gear Shafts
- Blisks
- Stator Rings
- Tail Rotor Gears
- Flight Actuator Components
- Rotor Hinge Pins
- Generator, Hydraulic and Fuel Pump Gears
- Fuel Transfer Components
- Rotorcraft/VTOL Transmission Gear Repair
Component Benefits for Aerospace Applications:
- Reduced Friction/Roughness
- Increased Resistance to Micropitting
- Increased Resistance to Scuffing
- Increased Component/System Operating Life in a Loss-of-Lubricant/Oil-Out Event
- Increased Resistance to Contact and Bending Fatigue
- Increased Part Durability/Reduced Wear
- Reduced Lubricant/System Operating Temperatures
- Reduced Vibration and Noise
- Increased Power Density Allowable/Component Load Carrying Capacity
- Reduced Lubrication Requirements and Cost (anti-wear additives, etc.)
- Increased Lubricant Lambda Ratio
- Increased Fuel Efficiency/Operating Efficiency
- Increased Average Time Between Maintenance
- Improved Laminar Flow Properties/Reduced Turbulence
- Potential to Refurbish Used Gears
Production Benefits for Aerospace Applications:
- Potential to Eliminate Honing
- Potential to Reduce Manufacturing Steps
- Potential to Reduce Grinding Surface Finish Requirements
- Potential to Eliminate Black Oxide
- Potential to Reduce or Optimize Deburring and Chamfering Operations
- Improved Component Inspection Capability
Common Aerospace Alloys REM can Assist with:
- Standard Gear and Nitriding Steels (ex. SAE 9310, Pryowear® 53, Nitralloys™)
- Specialty Steels (ex. M50/M50 NIL, 440C, Pryowear® 675, Ferrium® C61/C64, CSS-42L™)
- Stainless Steels (ex. 15-5 PH, 17-4 PH, 300 series, 400 series)
- Bronze and Brass Alloys
- Copper Alloys
- Aluminum Alloys
- Titanium Alloys (ex. Ti 6Al-4V)
- Superalloys (ex. Inconel® 625, Inconel® 718, Hastelloy® X, JBK-75, NASA HR1)
Common Aerospace Component Forming Techniques the ISF Process can Improve:
- Ground (Machined)
- Milled
- Turned
- EDM
- Pressed and Sintered
Interested in learning more, ready to start a project, or have an application that you don’t see listed here? Contact us today to see how we can help solve your surface finishing/polishing needs.