TITAL presents Investment Casting Part for A400M at Paris Air Show
The Channel Fitting for the Airbus A400M is another important milestone for TITAL in its position as a strategic supplier to Airbus. TITAL will present this casting at the Paris Air Show (BDLI joint booth C 342, hall 2C). The part is completely weight optimized and produced “ready for assembly” for Airbus and is poured in aluminum using TITAL’s HERO Premium Casting® investment process. Geometric and topological optimizations lead to savings in weight, cost, and fuel. The channel fitting from TITAL was recently qualified by Airbus for full production. This complex casting is located in the landing gear-well of the military transporter and connected to an actuator which opens and closes the wheel fairings for take-off and landing.
The channel fitting is subject to substantial mechanical loads. More than 20 comprehensive process qualifications were necessary to allow the medium sized company, TITAL, to deliver this casting component ready for assembly. The channel fitting casting is fully machined, painted and includes 40 different mechanical components, where all components to be assembled such as bushes, sheet metal parts, machined, and standard parts are procured by TITAL.
The assembly work is done at their headquarters in Bestwig. For the A400M development period the channel fitting was machined from a forged aluminum block. TITAL then succeeded in producing an investment casting with an optimized topology.
The topology optimization was completed by ALTAIR Engineering as a subcontractor. For this process the material is optimally spread along the lines of load within a defined space. The mechanical characteristics remain unchanged. The channel fitting with the dimensions of 47”x 16” x 16” (1,200 x 400 x 400 mm) from cast aluminum has a weight of only 44 lbs (20 kg) and is approximately 5% lighter than the machined version. This has a direct effect on the fuel consumption of the aircraft, increasing the range and load weight of the A400M.
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