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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0813.PDF
10 June 1955 811 duction facilities expanded. In direct contrast to white-hot metaland giant turbines is the laboratory at Chalfont Park in Bucking- hamshire : there, in the quiet of an adapted country mansionstanding in forty acres of grounds, technicians and analysts are able to work for the further development of the company'sproduction. HIGH DUTY ALLOYS, LTD. In 1928-29 Rolls-Royce,Ltd., patented their famous R.R. series of aluminium alloys, and High Duty Alloys, Ltd., who had already co-operated withthe Derby company in evolving these materials, were granted an exclusive licence for the manufacture of the R.R. series, thecommercial possibilities of which had been realized. Collaboration and research progressed, and many new alloyshave been evolved from the originals, which have fulfilled the increased demands of higher performance in aircraft. Such amaterial, developed in 1936-37, was Hiduminium R.R.77, having the highest strength/weight ratio of all in the wrought form.This was immediately adopted for extensive use in airframe construction. A modification—Hiduminium R.R.88—was intro-duced, so that two high-strength alloys were available—R.R.77 for forgings and pressings, and R.R.88 for extrusions. Thefurther demands of the aircraft industry gave tremendous impetus and incentive to development, and there followed close collabora-tion—which still exists today—between High Duty Alloys and the leading aircraft constructors. The company claim to be the first to install crystallographicX-ray apparatus, for determining lock-up internal stresses during both fabrication and subsequent heat treatment. The abilityto control these stresses to a known figure greatly assists in the manufacture of such components as crankcases, and Under the 12,000-ton forging press of High Duty Alloys' Redditch works; lubricating the die during forging of a major component for an Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet. rotors. The X-ray equipment was first used in the produc-tion of aero engine pistons as light alloy forgings. Considerable foresight was shown by the company beforeWorld War II in anticipating the tremendous demand that would be made upon the aircraft industry in the event of hostilities.New factories were built: a forging division at Redditch, and an extrusion division at Distington were opened, equipped withthe most modern plant and equipment available. Each division had its own self-contained research laboratories; also at this time,further expansion was made possible by the opening of extensive new laboratories to serve the whole organization. The requirements of war set numerous problems. Typical wasthe production of the forged impellers for Sir Frank Whittle's early experimental gas turbines and for the engines which sub-sequently went into service. There followed the development of compressor blades, for axial-flow gas turbines, as close-to-form forgings. At the time diis was a highly progressive step which had not previously been considered possible, and it isestimated that, since 1940, when blades were produced for the early Metrovick turbojets, over twenty million blades of alltypes have been produced by the company's forging division. Following the war, the company reverted to the original policyof assisting aircraft designers in the use of alloys, fabrication methods being evolved in practically every branch of the industry. From the four original R.R. alloys many new ones have beendeveloped, each having its own distinctive characteristics to meet practically any application. The latest is Hiduminium 100(S.A.P.), the elevated temperature and corrosion-resisting proper- ties of which are claimed to be far in advance of those ofcontemporary materials. High Duty Alloys, a member of the Hawker Siddeley Group,at present employs some 6,000 people. I.C.I. METALS DIVISION, which through its member firmshas a history of a century-and-a-half in the wrought non-ferrous industry, was quick to realize the potentialities of light alloys.Its accumulated knowledge and experience of manufacturing techniques was such that, at the beginning of the 1939-45 war,the Government asked the division to build and run the Ministry of Aircraft Production's new aluminium-alloy plant at Waunar-lwydd, near Swansea. At that time the wrought-aluminium industry, still in itsinfancy, was quite new to South Wales. It was, therefore, no easy assignment when the Waunarlwydd factory was expectedto produce aluminium sheets and extrusions of impeccable quality, needed in desperate haste. That it was able to do so,say I.C.I., can be attributed to two factors—the skill and experience of the division's technicians and supervisors, andthe adaptability and capacity for hard work of local labour. Shortly after the war ended, I.C.I, demonstrated its faithin the future of light alloys by buying the factory from the Government. Since then, the works have been extended andimproved by the addition of still-more-modern plant. Today their output of aluminium and aluminium alloys, in sheet, strip,plate, bars, sections, tubes and wire, finds many outlets, parti- cularly in building and transport applications. Under the tradenames "Kynal" and "Kynalcore," the factory's products are widely used in the aircraft industry for aircraft structures,engine components, heat-exchanger and electrical units, fuel • systems and various other services. KENT ALLOYS, LTD., was founded in March 1939 byShort Bros., Ltd., (who were then at Rochester) to manufacture aluminium castings for their famous Sunderland flying-boatsand other aircraft. During the war vast numbers of aluminium castings and parts were produced for such well-known types asthe Mosquito, Stirling and Lancaster. Kent Alloys have since grown and developed; they are nowone of the Birfield Group of companies. In addition to aircraft castings their Temple Manor works at Rochester now producesa wide variety of castings in aluminium and other alloys for the commercial market, not only by the sand-casting method butalso by the gravity-die-casting and shell-moulding processes. Close association with the aircraft industry has resulted in ahigh standard of inspection and laboratory control; use is made of radiographical examination by both X-rays and gamma-rays.Works equipment includes a range of heat-treatment furnaces specially designed for processing aluminium alloys, and thereis also anodising plant, Argon-arc welding equipment, and other processing installations. Well-equipped machine shops enablethe company to machine their own castings; they also manu- facture complete assemblies, so that comprehensive servicesare available to customers. Directors and senior executives are as follows: H. E. Hill,chairman; C. G. T. Hyslop, director; C. E. Lovelace, director and general manager; W. D. Mendham, director and chiefmetallurgist; D. L. Roome, director; E. Walker, sales director; M. F. Mansell, works manager; C. W. Farrow, chief inspector;R. O. Couchman, chief radiologist. NORTHERN ALUMINIUM CO., LTD., in its early days,functioned exclusively as importers of aluminium from North America. In 1926 they entered the manufacturing field byacquiring an interest in a small foundry which later formed the nucleus of the present works at Birmingham. Frequentextensions were made during the next decade, until further expansion during the war brought about a monthly productionfigure of 400 tons of forgings and 150 tons of castings. Modernization since the war has resulted in an increase ofover two-thirds in the output of the gravity-die-casting depart- ments. In addition, a separate foundry for the production ofpistons is also housed on the site; it has a daily output of 10,000 lb. All castings used in aircraft are subject to A.I.D.inspection and are given an X-ray examination before leaving the works.Forgings are produced in considerable variety and include airscrew blades, stressed airframe parts, and undercarriagecomponents. Advances in forging technique during and since the war have made possible the production of forged componentsto close dimensional tolerances. Banbury Works. Three years after the opening of the Bir-mingham plant, the company laid the foundations of its Banbury works on a 93-acre site. In 1934 strong alloy sheet for civiland military aircraft represented little more than one-tenth of the Banbury works output; by 1939 it was more than 80 percent and in the peak war year of 1943 was almost 100 per cent. In 1935, also at Banbury, the first plant of its kind was built
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