Surface retention of aerostructures

Important results from the project

The project objective was to develop the nitriding process for Ti64 to potentially replace hard chrome steel in aircraft components. The overall aim was to find a greener alternative to hard chrome which causes health and environmental problems and to reduce aircraft fuel consumption through weight reduction as Ti64 is lighter than steel. The objectives have been achieved as the project generated a large amount of test and analysis data of three Ti64 alloys with and without nitriding used for validation, life assessment and evaluation as well as further exploitation and dissemination.

Expected long term effects

The results are test and analysis data with increased knowledge of the nitriding process and its impact on the microstructure and behavior of the materials. The expected effects of the project are better possibilities to control and customize the nitriding process, which has been demonstrated with the development of TiSurf. After the project, TiSurf is now a more efficient process in terms of time, energy and precision compared to before. In the longer term, nitriding provides significant health and environmental benefits.

Approach and implementation

The project has been implemented in two phases, experimental and pilot, which have worked well despite the difficult circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. There was a common will among all partners to find workable solutions for the project good. The project plan was revised and the project was extended twice to allow the partners to carry out the process optimisation, nitriding, testing and analysis of the specimens. Communication has also worked well, which facilitated collaboration between partners and led to dissemination of the results and continued collaboration.

External links

Artikeln publicerad i ICAS 2022 konferens proceedings. Projektets beskrivning på NewSoTech hemsidan.