Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tools that Create

Continued from Page 2

The Spanish machine tool sector has taken a leading role in developing eco-friendlier machines, assisted by advances in related technologies. “New technology permits us to design machines and check the design through simulations,” says Nicolás Correa's Javier Eguren. “We can be far more precise and avoid overbuilding the machines, which we did in the past to ensure rigidity and safety.”

To meet international environmental standards, both the automotive and aerospace industries have been introducing new, lighter materials, including carbon fiber in place of some steel components. Carbon fiber, a composite, is especially important as a replacement for aluminum in the aerospace industry. The company MTorres, located in Pamplona , anticipated those changes in the aerospace industry and developed machinery to work with this material.

“Usually a machine places strips of material on a mold with the shape of the part that is going to be manufactured,” explains Luis Izco, managing director of MTorres's aeronautics division. “The problem is that the current systems are relatively expensive, and the productivity you can get is relatively low.” A cheaper and more rapid production technique is not as effective for complex shapes.

The company has developed a system that places the material on a given shape that can “make the cuts and restart on the fly,” Izco continues. “With this, what you are getting is a very high deposition rate, and the number of kilograms per hour on this system is much higher than [in] conventional systems.” This system also allows placement on complex shapes and parts. The first machine has been ordered by a company providing parts to the Boeing 787 and is expected to be delivered within a year.

Centered Research

In their quest for improvements and new products, companies can draw on a network of research centers that stretches around the country. These centers receive a certain amount of ongoing funding from the national government and from regional authorities, and they raise the rest of the necessary funds from specific program grants and from the companies with which they set up agreements.

About an hour outside of Barcelona , in the heart of Catalonia , the Technological Center of Manresa (CTM) focuses on materials science and the development of new materials. It opened its labs and research facilities only five years ago but has already played a key role in a number of projects. (See Focus on an Innovator for a highlight of one CTM partnership.)

One of the center's most important projects is its work with Forma 0, the government-funded research collaboration begun in 2006 that looks to adapt materials and manufacturing processes to take advantage of new high-strength steels. These tough steels have a particularly high level of a characteristic called springback, which makes them very challenging to tool.

The Spanish automobile company SEAT heads some of the lines of investigation in this consortium. “These new materials allow us to reduce weight in our products, and thereby reduce fuel consumption, while improving our crash performance,” says Andre Koropp, SEAT's business manager. “We'd like to use more and more of these materials for our products, so we have to prepare our manufacturing processes to be able to employ them.” The research primarily involves developing new tools and dies, particularly to optimize the hot-stamping process that is most effective with the high-strength steels.

A number of labs at CTM are devoted to teasing out different aspects of hot-stamping's effects on machine materials. “Each material behaves differently,” says José Manuel Prado, director of CTM. “You need good material models to have a reliable simulation of what will happen in any given situation. One of our stronger points here is to simulate those industrial processes.” The research focuses not only on increasing the effectiveness of hot-stamping but also on finding ways to form the steel cold, despite its strength and resistance.