MagForming

Development of new magnesium forming technologies for the aeronautics industry (MagForming and AEROMAG)

MagForming  (created to complement the work of the AEROMAG project), was launched as a multi-national consortium to advance the state of the art in the technology of plastic processing of wrought magnesium alloys for aeronautical applications, by developing tools and methodologies for industrial technologies and demonstrating their feasibility in aeronautics. SMWE is the only Russian-based participant in the international projects MAGFORMING and AEROMAG funded by the European Commission.

Project coordination by:  Aero-Magnesium (former Palbam-AMTS Israel).

Consortium partners:

End-users

  1. Airbus Deutschland, Germany
  2. EADS Innovation Works, Germany
  3. Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel
  4. Liebherr Aerospace Toulouse, France

Industrial companies

  1. Palbam-AMTS, Israel
  2. Alubin, Israel
  3. Chemetall GmbH, Germany
  4. Magnesium Elektron, UK
  5. SMW Engineering, Russia
  6. Ultratech, Poland

Universities

  1. Hanover, Germany
  2. Prague, Czech Republic

Project objectives:

1.    Methodologies for the preparation of the raw material for plastic deformation/ solidification processes, rolling processes, extrusion and annealing processes

2.    Development of special lubrication technology based on easily-removed, high-temperature stable lubricants

3.    Development of special heated dies with correct temperatures and temperature gradients, monitored by special controllers

4.    Development of cooling procedures to attain the best qualities for the manufactured part, as required by specifications, and simultaneously keeping the press machine damage-free

5.    Development of the exact methodology of applying the press loads: strength of force applied; temperature regime; duration of the application of force, process total speed

6.    Modifications of the parts, using modeling software, to ensure that magnesium parts meet common specifications required by the end users

In summary, as a result of both projects, the European aerospace industry is developing the clear sequence for application of magnesium in structural components:

1.    Production of new advanced magnesium alloys

2.    Production of semi-finished products from new alloys

3.    Forming of components

4.    Assembling

5.    Finishing

The analysis of preliminary results of both projects demonstrates the perspective of exploiting 10-15% of magnesium components in civil aircraft in the following 10 years.

Both European projects showed excellent cooperation among Russian research institutes, industrial companies and European partners.

As a participant in the MagForming project, in cooperation with Airbus and Chemetall GmbH, SMWE developed and manufactured samples of a magnesium window frame for Airbus 340 aircraft, illustrating that large-scale magnesium forging can be used for production on secondary structure components in new aircraft.