The aerospace sector finds itself buffeted by a jetstream of technological, political, and economic change. Trends such as lightweighting and the digitization of manufacturing are driving the sector, while political developments and a new fighter jet initiative might prove hugely impactful.

Meanwhile, machine and cutting tool companies have plenty of new products ideal for aerospace work.

Rob Muru, president and CEO of Toronto machine shop A-Line Precision Tool Ltd., described current conditions in the industry as fluid. A lot depends on what big aerospace OEMs and the new President of the United States do, he explained.

About 70 per cent of A-Line’s work is aerospace-related, all for the defence side of the industry.

The company has 33 employees and an array of CNC lathes, CNC mills, wire EDMs, sinker EDMs, waterjet cutting machines, and grinders. The firm has six 5-axis machining centres but still uses 3- and 4-axis mills for some work. Roughly half of the company’s machine tools are from Haas Automation.

“I don’t think you can make aerospace parts with manual mills anymore,” said Muru.

His company had been earning around $6 million in annual revenues but experienced a dip in sales in 2015 and 2016. Muru said the firm will get back to expected total soon. “I expect to be pumping out at full volume by the summer,” he stated.

Technology Matters

Lightweighting, reducing the weight of airplane parts and structures as much as possible to save on fuel costs, remains an ongoing trend. For obvious reasons, anything that flies needs to be strong as well as light.

This explains the growing popularity of titanium, a metal with a high strength-to-weight ratio, but also tough.

Composites are popular in aerospace circles as well, for the sake of lightweighting. Cutting tool and machine tool makers have responded in kind, with products for these and other materials.

“Many of our machines can be outfitted with high-speed spindles and specialty dust collection to machine composite materials. As far as machining titanium, we have many dedicated systems to efficiently produce components in this material. These include our i-800T cryogenics machine that uses liquid nitrogen to assist in the machining process and improve productivity and tool life,” said Ray Buxton, general manager at Mazak Corp. Canada.

Other machines suitable for aerospace work the company’s VTC-805E, VC-500A/5X, and Variaxis i-600 with multi-height pallet pool.

Muru in his shop has a number of Haas machines for this work.

Haas machine tools recommended for aerospace work include the company’s, “Universal Machining Centers and 5-axis machines in general. A 5-axis, or 3+2 machine, means that a part can be machined with one clamping, eliminating the need for an operator to move the part to various workstations. This reduces the possibility of mistakes and improves part quality and tolerances,” explained Bryan O’Fallon, product manager at Haas Automation, and Dan Ferko, president of Sirco Machinery Company, a Haas factory outlet.

Cutting tool firms have also been busy on the aerospace front.

“For the turning side of aerospace grades and geometries, Walter recently introduced the WSM01 grade and MS3 geometry, both designed for high-temperature alloys and stainless steels. The WSM01 grade ha an extremely smooth PVD coating that uses a new technology called High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) that provides a smooth surface and a very hard, dense coating. The hardness of the coating provides much better wear resistance in nickel and cobalt containing high-temperature alloys,” said Kurt Ludeking, director of marketing at Walter USA.

Combining the WSM01 with the new MS3 geometry makes for a particularly effective cutting tool for high-temp alloys, he added.

“The MS3 is available in negative insert styles, but it has a high positive rake angle and quite sharp cutting edge that effectively cuts INCONEL and other nickel- and cobalt-based alloys, significantly reducing cutting pressure that leads to work hardening and early insert failure caused by depth-of-cut notching that is typical with these alloys,” said Ludeking.

Cullen Morrison, business development manager at Komet of America said his company has “really begun our official roll out for North America of our ToolScope process monitoring system” for cutting tools.

This system uses “live data from the machine tool to track, log, and make changes to the cutting conditions. This can be used to track tool wear, tool failure, tool changes, and many other oddities with the process. It is also strong in quality tracking, which is very important for aerospace documentation. It can show positive proof that one part cut harder than another or that the cut was consistent, showing no weak spots or potential failure points in the material. Some aviation companies like GE have specific standards and norms for monitoring tool wear and performance for drilling holes on flight critical components. [Our system] can completely monitor, log, and output that data autonomously, in compliance with GE and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards,” explained Morrison.

A white paper released by Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) in September 2016, pointed to high-tech trends that could benefit Canadian aerospace companies. These include the growing popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the digitization of manufacturing.

“Technology development for microsatellites and UAVs has been particularly rapid, opening up new fields of application and expanding into new private and public markets,” stated the white paper.

It also cites advanced manufacturing concepts such as 3-D printing/additive manufacturing. Once considered fringe, this style of manufacturing is being embraced by machine tool makers.

Mazak, for example, has recently released a series of additive machines including the VC500 5x AM, Variaxis j-600AM, and Integrex i-200S AM.

“The j-600AM includes a new wire feed additive technology that vastly improves deposition rates and removes the hazards associated with powder deposition,” said Buxton.

While the technology is still in early days, additive manufacturing offers the potential of reduced production time and less need for pricey raw materials.

The Internet of Things (in which machines, computers, and other devices are linked in an electronic network) is a burgeoning phenomenon, according to AIAC’s white paper.

Muru is familiar with the notion, stating that his new Haas CNCs “can send out WiFi signals to tell us when a program’s ready, right to the operator’s telephone.”

The system in question is called Next Generation Control (NGC). It was introduced November 2015 and is Haas’ first CNC with optional WiFi capability. Shop personnel can use NGC to receive email or SMS text notifications regarding the operating status of their CNC machines. The control includes Ethernet connectivity as a standard feature.

“By using WiFi to manage CNC programs in a properly managed network directory (as opposed to loading with a USB where using the latest program is uncontrolled) quality of parts increases. Shop efficiency also benefits,” said Ferko and O’Fallon.

For his part, Buxton says Mazak’s new Mazatrol SmoothX control is suitable for the challenges of 5-axis contouring of aerospace components.

While being 5-axis capable isn’t essential for doing aerospace work, it certainly helps, added Buxton.

“More and more parts need 5-axis capability. The parts that don’t would likely benefit from being produced in a 5-face methodology to improve efficiency and accuracy,” he said.

Aerospace Numbers

In general, Canadian aerospace revenues remained strong, reaching $29.8 billion in 2015, according to the Ottawa-based AIAC. More than 70 per cent of revenues came from manufacturing, with the rest coming from maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). Manufacturing revenues increased 11 per cent between 2010 and 2015. The sector directly employed 89,000 people, a total that rises to 211,000 when indirect jobs are included.

The Canadian aerospace industry exports roughly 80 per cent of what it makes. More than half of these products go to the U.S. -- a problematic situation, if President Donald Trump fulfills his pledge to rescind NAFTA and impose tariffs. Needless to say, this could cause major pain for Canada’s export-driven aerospace sector.

“We’ve maintained that open markets, free trade, are in [everyone’s] best interest. We’re working with government, as well as our members and aerospace counterparts in the international community, to make sure free-trade principles are guarded as much as possible,” said Jim Quick, president and CEO of AIAC.

Canadian aerospace firms would also be wise to keep a close eye on global trends. Worldwide, AIAC predicts there will be a need for 40,000 new airplanes over the next two decades.

“That’s about US$5.9 trillion worth of work. Our job at AIAC is to get as much for Canada as possible,” said Quick.

As for new work opportunities, on November 22, 2016, Ottawa announced it was pondering the purchase of 18 new Super Hornet fighter planes to supplement aging CF-18 fighters until permanent replacements are ready. The federal government also said Canada will continue to participate in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, the controversial multinational, multibillion dollar effort to build F-35 fighter planes (an aircraft Ottawa has serious reservations about actually purchasing for its own use).

“We did work for both the JSF and F-18. For the JSF, we had the pleasure of being involved with the engine development team and we made some very fancy titanium struts for the GE/RR partnership engine that got cancelled a few years ago. We currently make a bunch of various F-18 parts,” said Muru.

The General Electric/Rolls Royce F136 engine he refers to was intended for the F-35.

Quick says AIAC will continue to engage with Ottawa “to maximize the opportunity to develop Canadian capacity and Canadian capability” in the ongoing effort to update Canada’s Air Force.

He also has some advice for shops looking to break into the aerospace sector: “You need to be prepared to grow” and meet metrics demanded by top suppliers and aerospace OEMs,” he said. “If you’re in their supply chain, you will have to be sustainable over a long period of time. They’re looking at the number of employees you have, the amount of R&D you’re having, [and] the revenues you have.”

Contributing writer Nate Hendley can be reached at nhendley@sympatico.ca.