Tisics Limited Public Funding

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Metal powders with precise compositions and size profiles as low as 16µm are readily available at scale for use in additive manufacturing and metal injection moulding processes. TISICS have developed a novel process for mixing precise ratios of metal powders to produce bespoke combinations, then diffusion bonding the mixture via hot-isostatic pressing to fabricate novel alloys. Using these techniques we shall attempt to manufacture a functionally graded billet combining a low alloy steel and a super austenitic stainless steel with a smooth composition gradient and mechanical properties not inferior to the parent alloys. It is critical to reduce or entirely eliminate surface oxides from the powders prior to diffusion bonding, it is also critical to avoid excessive atomic diffusion at the powder interfaces while still achieving full consolidation. Should this approach be successful it has the potential to replace the traditional approach of combining the two alloys through tungsten inert gas welding.

TARGET-H2, 'Technology advancement through research, build and test for liquid hydrogen integration', develops technologies for the storage and integration of liquid hydrogen on large aircraft, enabling zero carbon emission flight. Focusing on innovation, safety and route to certification the project will demonstrate project goals through a pyramid of tests. The project will also solve the integration and safety challenges of designing aircraft with LH2 systems.

ALG will develop and combine new designs, methodologies and technologies to accelerate and catalyse benefits for current and next generation of landing gears. A streamlined and rationalised product and assembly process will be developed alongside the MTC, SMI and Sheffield University. Design methodologies and certification approaches with Bristol and Cranfield University. Innovative technology, such as Electron Beam Welding working with TWI and Birmingham University, additive manufacturing with Industrial suppliers, and super lightweight MMC structures with TISICS. Technologies will be incorporated into a 'FLAGSHIP' physical demonstration that will allow our internal and external customers, and industry to understand the art of the possible.

TISICS has unique high performance metal matrix composite technology to combine its in-house UK silicon carbide fibre reinforcement in light weight titanium and aluminium composites. These technologies deliver 30% to 70% weight reductions in metallic systems for space, aerospace, transport and energy sectors. Weight reduction in these sectors leads to direct reductions in CO2 emissions delivering into global Net Zero targets. TISICS has recently demonstrated a 50% lighter landing gear component which is stronger than steel, can directly replace the steel part without system redesign and would repay its replacement cost in under 2 years of flight through fuel savings alone. CO2 emission costs in the future would create further cost benefits for airlines. PRONET will enable TISICS to work with industry experts including the Centre for Process Innovation and a major UK chemical producer to establish significantly higher resource efficiency for high value feedstocks than is currently possible at TISICS. Improving resource efficiency has two benefits. Firstly it reduces raw material costs as a proportion for silicon carbide fibre costs as both the feed and waste have a cost impact. Secondly it reduces energy consumption from raw material supply through product manufacture to plant waste disposal. This supports TISICS mission towards Net Zero throughout its business activity. The market potential for MMCs is growing rapidly with the initiatives to reduce carbon emissions across all sectors. Aviation is hard to abate but weight reduction is a near term opportunity for existing aircraft ahead of future sustainable fuels, hydrogen and advanced aircraft designs. Weight reduction solutions must be both economic and available at high volumes required across the aviation sector. PRONET will develop resource efficient process options for current production as well as robust methodologies needed to design a future very high volume fibre plant based in the UK to feed UK and international product sales. This demonstration of scalability is a key element in industrialising UK technology and securing world leadership in light weighting Aviation and hence delivering Into The UK's NetZero promises. Customer support for this programme has been very significant in preparing the ambitious scope for both near term and longer term resource efficiency benefits needed to meet the economic and technical challenges of introducing MMCs into products initially in aviation but expanding to space, energy and future ultra lightweight cars to maximise electric power economics.

TISICS has unique high performance metal matrix composite technology to combine its in-house UK silicon carbide fibre reinforcement in light weight titanium and aluminium composites. These technologies deliver 30% to 70% weight reductions in high value components for space, aerospace, transport and energy sectors. Weight reduction in these sectors leads to direct reductions in CO2 emissions delivering into global Net Zero targets. Electric drivetrains are a major route to removing fossil fuel combustion propulsion and associated emissions. But as motors are developed for increased range efficiency and payload they have to cope with higher power, loads and temperatures which compromise performance. Over-wrapping conventional motor materials with high strength and stiffness sleeves significantly enhances performance and reliability. Conventional over-wrap material technologies are a compromise between strength, mass, wall thickness and thermal efficiency. TISICS high performance fibre reinforced aluminium composite combines the best attributes fo light weight, high thermal conductivity aluminium with the exceptional strength, stiffness and electrical properties of ceramic fibre to provide lighter, thermally efficient motor sleeves and a positive contribution to uptake of motor drives and hence emission reduction. Project ALCHEMI will develop and demonstrate a viable process route and early performance data in a short 9 month programme to ensure that this technology can be integrated into current motor development programmes and enable rapid deployment. This project builds on significant prior work on the materials in other high-performance applications and early commercialisation through motor sleeves will accelerate use of metal composites in critical technologies where emissions abatement is limited by conventional material performance.

The UK is leading the world in its drive for Net-Zero Emissions by 2050\. Aviation remains critical to the UK for global commerce as well as maintaining its position as one of the largest aerospace industrial suppliers worldwide. To achieve the goals of net-zero emissions and industrial strength employing thousands of people in design, materials, manufacturing, integration and distribution in the UK worth billions of pounds in export revenues, means developing sustainable aviation. The UK has an enviable reputation in leading high performance aerospace development through academia and industry. The drive to reducing emissions from aviation is now focusing on hydrogen as a zero CO2 emission fuel for commercial aircraft up to single aisle such as the Airbus A320-size planes, by the mid to late 2030s. To deliver hydrogen fuelled aircraft technologies is a major challenge as the cryogenic temperature coupled with hydrogen compatibility with different materials and the obvious safety case, needs significant development. In addition to this, the storage tanks must be very light to ensure economically viable range and payloads. Current liquid hydrogen ground and space-based tanks will not meet this need. The fabrication processes developed in Aether have the additional benefits of low waste manufacture typically 5% compared to conventional aerospace manufacturing where less than 10% of the material bought remains in the final product. This represents significant further energy and hence CO2 emission savings in the supply chain. The development of the scalable technology for these tanks by the consortium partners optimising the use of different material systems to meet all functional needs of tanks for long life, safe aviation use, provides the UK with unique opportunities to generate advanced tank technologies with worldwide markets. The Consortium build on a 30-year history of innovative metal and polymer composite research across multiple sectors to be in a position to develop scalable manufacturing methods capable of delivering large, safe, long service life hydrogen storage tanks for aviation use in the future. Developing this technology in the UK enhances the existing UK manufacturing and export market position. This creates new advanced engineering and manufacturing jobs supplying UK aerospace, space and automotive sectors and delivers on UK pledges for Net-Zero emissions by 2050\. World leadership in hydrogen for transport is essential to move beyond hydrocarbon fuels and augments electrification through clean onboard hybrids or fuel cell power generation. But this needs light-weight hydrogen tanks.

THERMACH aims to develop and demonstrate a thermally assisted machining process to addresses the significant manufacturing challenges that industries face when producing components and products using advanced Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) and other difficult-to-cut materials. Within THERMACH, the UK partners will advance innovative analytical, software and hardware solutions for Laser Assisted Machining (LAM) processes to become enabling, competitive and sustainable processes for MMC machining on an industrial scale, that is able to deliver a step-change in increased productivity and reduction in production costs. This is achieved by augmenting the conventional value chain of the machining process by smart introduction of satellite tooling, laser, induction and monitoring links. Lasers are well known as a means of processing materials which are difficult to cut by conventional mechanical means. The development of combined laser and mechanical processes offers the potential to combine the benefits of both, as well as the ability to achieve process speeds and qualities that cannot be achieved by either in isolation. Development of next-gen cutting tools achieving high material removal rates and extended tool-life for higher-productivity machining will be further explored within THERMACH. THERMACH-enabled MMC manufacture offers 30-70% weight reduction for aerospace applications, resulting in greater payload, extended range and lower emissions, significantly increasing competitiveness and first-mover advantage for UK aerospace companies and helping meet the UK's target to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050\. Furthermore,a high-quality, consistent and cost effective thermal cutting process has the potential transform production of patient-specific prostheses to restore anatomy affected by trauma, disease or surgery. This project brings together experts across the entire manufacturing value chain to develop a disruptive, generic innovation that can be applied to high-efficiency manufacture of difficult-to-cut materials, integrating into existing CNC equipment, thereby enabling wide up-take.

For aviation to achieve net zero emissions and meet rising demand for passenger and freight travel, aircraft efficiency must be significantly improved. Recent changes replacing aluminium with carbon fibre and steel with titanium have shown the impact advanced materials can have on fuel-burn and hence Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. However, there remain components in aircraft such as landing gear systems, where the loading conditions, operating environment and component life expectancy exceed the performance of the conventional lightweight materials mentioned above. TISICS ultra lightweight metal composites can now deliver the exceptional performance landing gear systems need in very demanding environments. With stiffness double that of titanium and **compression strength 50% to 100%** greater than steel, titanium composites offer an exceptional performance alternative. Increased corrosion resistance reduces the need for harmful, environmentally unfriendly coatings. TISICS' **Net Shape manufacturing** result in very low material waste compared to typical 90% waste from steel forgings. This reduces environmental impact from manufacture through the entire aircraft life, enabling an exceptional solution to create cleaner and greener aircraft. Most direct replacement components are 35% lighter than the current solutions, but utilising design optimisation methods, future components can be up to 70% lighter. For example, replacing the major tubular components on an Airbus A320 aircraft with titanium and aluminium matrix composites would save over 1000kg per plane and deliver over **2 million tonnes of CO2** emission reduction for the world's A320 aircraft fleet. In the first phase of this project, working extensively with Safran Landing Systems, TISCS identified two landing gear components where metal matrix composites offer **greater than 40% weight savings**, which can be manufactured to demonstrator level in the Phase 2 programme and provide viable production economics in the near-term. The UK is a world-leader in the production of continuous fibre metal matrix composites and this project catalyses industrialisation and high-value UK manufacturing job creation. This project accelerates world-leading UK technology development to near-term products. Successful completion of the project will generate the validation needed for industrialisation investment and early product entry on current airframes, as well as establishing the baseline case for radically new zero-emission aircraft concepts such as blended wing body (BWB). The mass savings on landing gear and further high performance components in the future will help deliver the weight reduction necessary for future electric and hydrogen propulsion systems, currently under development to deliver net zero aviation by 2050\.

The rapidly expanding need for global access to satellites is driven by direct to user access for communications, data transfer, navigation and earth observation throughout work and private life. Access beyond highly developed urban areas needs constellations of low orbit satellites. This requires a significant change in the space industry to build and deliver hinders rather than tens of satellites per year. These satellites have limited lives creating long term high value revenues for suppliers. But this needs new engineering solutions to meet the New Space demands for speed and production economics. TISICS has developed advanced materials and processes capable of cutting delivery times by 60% and mass by 40% through net shape manufacture utilising it unique expertise in lightweight metal composites and low waste net-shape manufacturing technologies. Satellites need propulsion systems to maintain orbit position. Supported by customers, Innovate UK, the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency, TISICS innovative fuel tanks for spacecraft propulsion are compact and lightweight. They enable maximising fuel capacity within the minimum work envelope and mass, reducing launch costs whilst extending service-life and revenues. This fully repayable Innovate UK loan will enable TISICS to address the final hurdles to transition this innovative technology into a high value and high volume UK-manufacturing capability. The accelerated development ensures that a UK supply chain for high value satellite fuel tank production can be secured to support both UK and international satellite manufacturers. This will create new highly skilled manufacturing jobs and significant export potential for TISICS and its customers. As the capability and capacity expands, TISICS will be able to supply additional components for satellites and launchers beyond fuel tanks. We will use this capability as a springboard into high volume aerospace components helping to deliver cleaner aircraft in the future as well as cheaper and more convenient access to satellite communications.

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are a vital material for improvement of efficiency in future aircraft engines, enabling higher turbine temperatures and offering the advantages of significantly lower weight, lower cooling requirements and lower aircraft emissions. The rate of introduction of these new materials can be improved by raising the predictability of material strength, enabling design engineers to have a greater degree of confidence in the life of the material. Interface coatings on fibre reinforcements are one of the critical components of CMCs and control of these coatings with tight tolerances is vital for ensuring reliable properties. Current batch coating methods only give a relatively low level of uniformity control. Complex components can show coating thickness variations, limiting the predictability of performance. This 'CICSiC' project aims to develop the coating technology, a novel prototype machine design and a UK based manufacturing partnership for the equipment which will coat the reinforcing silicon carbide (SiC) fibre for SiC based CMCs in a continuous mode. This mode will enable tight coating tolerance by treating the fibre before it is shaped into a thicker and complex shaped component preform where it becomes difficult to process all areas of the component with equal precision. There is significant global demand for this technology amongst customers of ATL (project lead) including engine manufacturers and component developers, as recent developments in the US have enabled GE Aviation to gain a competitive advantage. This project aims to enable technology to be developed and sold to a world market from a UK base. Customers of the planned product are keen to push the development through and understand the properties of the material produced by this new process. The project will take the existing batch coating process and apply knowledge from that to design and build prototype equipment which coats a moving SiC fibre on a continuous basis. Fibre handling expertise will be drawn both from SMEs and a research centre to form a knowledge base from which a production scale multi-tow plant is designed ready for manufacturing at the end of the project. End users of the coated fibre, including the German company now setting up the only SiC fibre plant outside Japan and the US, will form part of the consortium's test regime for the coated fibre to ensure it meets industrial requirements.

The public concern for the environment has increased steadily over recent years and has become a major concern to governments world-wide. The UK has recognised the need to act on greenhouse gas emissions for many years though international treaties as well as national programmes and legislation. COVID-19 has not diminished the desire for a greener and cleaner future, with increased desire to ensure that the investment in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic should wherever possible focus on cleaner technologies for the future and especially technology where the UK can compete globally or take a world leading position. Civil aircraft are already being developed to be cleaner and lower emissions through lighter aircraft, more efficient gas turbines, better flight rules and improved aerodynamics. However there is a limit to the efficiency improvements that can be achieved with the conventional tube and wing aircraft design. Therefore engineers re looking at blended wing aircraft which are more aerodynamic and therefore efficient. Blended wing aircraft will require new designs and structures as the tubular fuselage is structurally very efficient. The most efficient blended wing structures rely on a truss structure made up interconnecting thin tubes with a light weight materials as skin. These tubular structures need to be very mass efficient, easily assembled to make very large structures and capable of long service life as inspection, repair and replacements will be very challenging once the aircraft is in service. Conventional metals are still relatively heavy compared to light carbon-fibre composites (CFRP), however this can be expensive to produce and can present challenges when joining in large structures due ot the need for adhesively bonded joints and open-assembly curing. The nodes need to be metallic with sufficient interface area for laid transfer between CFRP struts. These can offer relatively poor compression strength versuses tensile, leading to bulkier struts or truss designs to minimise compression loading. TISICS has developed an innovative solution for very light space system needs. Ceramic fibre reinforced aluminium or titanium exceed the tensile and compression strength and stiffness of aerospace metals and the compression strength of CFRP. When combined with integral diffusion bonded joint nodes, the struts provide greater mass efficient than CFRP. The integral metal nodes can be welded to adjacent struts to enable large wing and fuselage structures in an aircraft assembly environment through robotic welding. This provides a high integrity, long service life, low mass, truss structure solution for future blended wing aircraft. The UK is the only commercial producer of this technology in Europe. This project will develop methods to build multi-strut cells and to join struts into larger structures. Demonstrating this will enable faster integration into blended-wing development projects.

For aviation to achieve net zero emissions and meet rising demand for passenger and freight travel, aircraft efficiency must be significantly improved. Recent changes replacing Aluminium with carbon fibre and steel with titanium have shown the impact advanced materials can have on fuel burn and hence emissions. But there remain components in aircraft such as landing gear systems, where the loading conditions, operating environment and component life expectancy exceed the performance of conventional lightweight materials mentioned above. TISICS ultra lightweight metal composites can now deliver the exceptional performance landing gear systems need in very demanding environments. With stiffness double that of titanium and compression strength 50% to 100% greater than steel, titanium composites would be a good alternative. Increased corrosion resistance and can be very low material waste net-shape manufacture means they are an exceptional solution to create lighter aircraft. Most direct replacement components are 35% lighter than the current solutions, but utilising design optimisation methods many future parts can be up to 70% lighter. For example replacing the major tubular components on an Airbus A320 with titanium and aluminium matrix composites would save over 1000kg per plane and deliver over 2 million tonnes of CO2 emission reduction for the world A320 fleet. This project will in the first phase, identify a limited number of landing gear components where metal matrix composites offer significant weight savings, can be manufactured to demonstrator level and have the potential for viable production economics in the near term. The UK a world-leader in the production of continuous fibre reinforced metal matrix composites. This project accelerates the current development status towards near term product development and product opportunities. Successful completion of the project will generate the success needed for industrialisation investment and early product entry on current airframes as well as the baseline case for radical new aircraft and systems in development for a 2050 net zero aviation target.

The global need for greenhouse gas emission reduction is clearer than ever as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Reductions in CO2 emissions are recordable and show that change is possible. The UK government has recognised that a post COVID-19 recovery should have 'green' initiatives at its core. But the impact of stopping global travel and international trade has been equally damaging to economies and livelihoods. Therefore a balance is needed to recover transport businesses and in particular aviation without continued emissions and damage to the environment. Transport needs an energy source, electrification of some sectors of road transport and even some aspects of aviation is possible but current and envisaged energy density for batteries do not show a viable alternative for large passenger or freight aircraft to be entirely electric and have viable range and payload. This leads to the need for alternative and green fuels. Hydrogen if generated form sustainable energy sources is a clean alternative to hydrocarbons whether fossil or synthetically sourced. But the energy density of hydrogen is lower than hydrocarbons and therefore to achieve the volume/mass of hydrogen for viable range, aircraft must have very light structures and hydrogen storage tanks to offset this lower energy density. This project will help develop TISICS unique lightweight net shape space focused chemical and gas tank technology to be scalable to meet the capacity and economics needed for aviation. The tanks will utilise lightweight thin wall aluminium diffusion bonded to avoid the need for lower integrity and heavier conventional welded manufacturing. The net shape technology enables adaptable tank designs with integrated mounting structures and transitions from aluminium to high integrity stainless steel or titanium pipework. The fabrication process has the additional benefits of low waste manufacture typically 5% compared to conventional aerospace manufacturing where less than 10% of the material bought remains in the final product. This represents significant further energy and hence CO2 emission savings in the supply chain. The development of the scalable technology for these tanks to beyond space system size presents new challenges for tooling, process conditions and inspection that will be addressed in this project. TISICS builds on a 30 year history of innovative metal composite research across multiple sectors to be in a position to develop our space propellant tanks for gas and chemical propulsion, into a scalebale manufacturing method capable of delivering large, safe long service life hydrogen storage tanks for aviation use in the future. This builds on our extensive work on lightweight parts for current and future generation fuel efficient aircraft. Developing this technology in the UK will enhance the existing manufacturing and export market position held by the UK. This sustains manufacturing jobs and creates new advanced engineering and manufacturing jobs supplying UK aerospace, space and automotive sectors and creating further export opportunities for the UK economy. World leadership in hydrogen for transport is essential to move beyond hydrocarbon fuels and augments electrification through clean onboard hybrids or fuel cell power generation. But this needs light-weight hydrogen tanks.

Fibre reinforced Metal Matrix Composites have extensive applications in high growth industrial sectors such as space and aerospace, key to the UK's economic growth and industrial strategy for exports. These lightweight materials offer 30% weight savings in direct replacement parts and up to 70% weight saving where system designs can be optimised. The UK has a strong history in the technology and the core supply chain from raw materials to final products. TISICS is the only integrated fibre and metal composite manufacturer worldwide and has extensive experience in developing component and process technologies for a wide range of applications including: * Aero-engines: Lighter, higher operating temperature components reduce fuel burn. * Aircraft landing gear: Lighter, higher stiffness gear reduces fuel burn and titanium composites offer an alternative to chrome or cadmium plated steels. * Satellite pressure vessel: lighter, near net shape propellant and pressurant tanks reduce system mass and half lead time which will be advantageous for constellation satellites. * Space robotics and structures: Lighter, more compact systems are key to space exploration and in-space servicing. * Energy: Lighter, more robust steam turbines will increase energy generation efficiency, reducing emissions. * Automotive: longer term high production volume economics will allow MMCs to offer lighter systems capable of reducing emissions from combustion engines or range extension for electric vehicles. This project builds on the previous work aimed at the development of a world leading silicon carbide fibre production facility for MMCs. In order to industrialise this technology further development is needed to bring manufacturing maturity and production economics, of which the reinforcing silicon carbide fibre is a significant factor, to the necessary level for inclusion in space and aerospace platform designs. To address this TISICS development strategy for its fibre (since completing its development in 2014) has involved some initial process automation and digitisation and improving reactor component designs. The next steps to be addressed in this project are for: * further process digitisation for real time process monitoring and diagnostics. Achieving a more economic process and blueprint for a larger facility by extending the use of digital sensors for process control and in-process monitoring to lead to reliability gains in start-up and to extend batch production output * improved feedstock supply control and conversion rates via modelling and redesigning the feedstock supply, capture and recycle systems * modelling and designing waste management solutions. This project will address the major costs influences.

There is a growing demand for space based services including data, navigation and earth-observation. This requires more satellites and consequentially more launchers. The UK is targeting 10% of the world space market revenues by 2030 worth around £40Bn at todays values. To support this the UK Government is investing significant sums to establish a world leading space propulsion system design and test capability. This aims to ensure that the UK is the prime location for space propulsion development and consequentially propulsion system manufacture. Additionally this will ensure that UK satellite manufacturers as well as small launcher manufacturers have access to the most advanced propulsion systems. The need for higher performance and larger numbers of satellites has created increased competition worldwide driving a need for competitive costs as well as performance in all systems including propulsion. This in turn is leading to greater demand for new suppliers capable of providing innovative solutions which challenge the incumbent technologies for both cost and performance. At the same time satellites performance is increasing with much smaller satellites capable of delivering commercially viable solutions and hence revenues for operators. This requires smaller tank solutions and higher production rates which again drives a need for innovation in manufacture and assembly. A final driver which influences this project is the need for safer, less environmentally damaging propellants for launchers and satellites. The risks associated with current propellants lead to very high costs. Green/safe to handle propellants have been developed and need new optimised tank materials and designs to ensure they are commercially viable and reliable. TISICS proposal aims to develop a novel diaphragm design coupled to a new tank fixing which is significantly lighter, cheaper to produce and easier to install reducing cost and lead times for satellite primes. This also enables TISICS to build an investment case for a UK tank production facility which generates high tech jobs and potential export revenues. UK satellite producers can work closely with TISICS and its supply chain to rapidly optimise and deliver tanks to meet their satellite and small launcher needs without reliance on imported technology with potential export controls and restrictions. TISICS vision and motivation is to respond to this market needs by delivering cost competitive future green-propellant tanks. This will get the UK space industry at the forefront of the future space market creating a UK supply-chain and jobs, and reducing dependence and costs associated with imports.

TISICS manufactures continuous silicon carbide monofilament (as oppose to tows) reinforced metal matrix composite; titanium or aluminium alloys. These materials have excellent specific strength and stiffness, therefore offer a light weight alternative to steel for space, aerospace and other mass sensitive applications. Additionally, its metal matrix means that it is a good alternative to polymer composite in compressive and high temperature applications. As part of a UK collaborative project supported by Innovate UK, TISICS have developed and now produce a higher performance silicon carbide monofilament for the reinforcement of metal matrix composites and one which has the potential to be manufactured at much lower cost than the only competitive (US) monofilament. However TISICS pilot facility is based on 25 year old designs and hardware originally established for R&D. This proposal aims to develop production process designs and procedures for monofilament that are production ready. It will build of recent developments in digital automation to address the inefficiencies resulting from the outdated hardware design to significantly improve the efficiency and productivity of the monofilament production. The benefits of the project outputs i.e. reduced build time and failures, extended batch duration and therefore increased cost effectiveness will be an enable for material qualification and uptake within the space and aerospace sectors. This will allow TISICS to compete on the world stage by becoming the only large-scale supplier of this class of material outside the US.

In the next decade, both government and commercial entities will increasingly rely on robotic in-space assembly, manufacturing and servicing for the setup and maintenance of future space assets for civil and commercial missions. Intelsat published an analysis (AIAA Sep 2014) that calculated that on-orbit servicing could save commercial telecomunications companies alone $28M per year per spacecraft. While fields of autonomy, robotics, and space engineering are all making progress, true representative in-space manufacturing and assembly as an end-to-end process has not been widely demonstrated, despite the UK having a strong knowledge base in all these three areas. This project will assess the feasibility of combining the Lightweight Advanced Robotic Arm Demonstrator (LARAD) technologies, including its metallic-composite structure, to robotically demonstrate the construction of representative space structures in a laboratory environment. The Phase-2 demonstration will be a major stepping stone in providing our end-user with the means to fly an actual in-space manufacturing spacecraft in the early 2020's. Both phase-1 and phase-2 of this demonstrator will enhance the UK's momentum in the robotic, autonomous and space technology sectors.

The project goal is a novel generic technology (UltraMAT) for materials processing of fluid and semi fluid phases that are widespread in manufacturing e.g. in the welding and adhesive joining of components, the manufacture of bulk composite components and in traditional, PM (HIP) and semi solid casting. The key purpose of UltraMAT is to enable production of manufactured components with step improvements in specific strength (yield/ fatigue/ impact) and modulus, fatigue life and thus lightweighting; driven by economic and environmental needs to reduce energy consumption and emissions in manufacture and transport. The enabling tool is power ultrasound with purpose shaped force fields for controlled movement and size creation of uniform nano structures to enable: (1) Production of homogeneously distributed and shaped nanoscale particulates, fibres or grains). (2) Enhancement of interlayer and filler-matrix adhesion bonds.UltraMAT will be validated through the fabrication and testing of samples of a number of key structure/joint types of growing importance especially in aerospace or automotive bodies/engines: (i) Ti/Al fibre laminates (ii) Ti/Al metal matrix composites with fibre/ particulate (ceramic TiC/SiC), Ti/Al laser welding and (iv) Al semi solid casting. Homogenisation performance will be studied using graphene (G) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) because the strong agglomeration tendencies of G and NT is impeding their ability to realise commercially, components of ultra high specific strength. In short pulse echo mode, UltraMAT will self evaluate its performance on line aided by predictive big analytics.

As part of a UK collaborative project TISICS have developed and now produce a higher performance silicon carbide monofilament for the reinforcement of metal matrix composites and one which has the potential to be manufactured at lower cost. This high strength, lightweight material is of great importance in the space and aerospace sectors as well as having applications in other industries. This project will take advantage of recent developments in digital automation to significantly improve the effeciency and productivity of the monofilament production. The benefits of the project outputs i.e. improved process control and cost effectiveness will be an enable for material qualification and uptake within the space and aerospace sectores.This will allow TISICS to compete on the world stage by becoming the only large-scale supplier of this class of material outside the US.

This project aims to develop light weight silicon carbide fibre reinforced hydraulic actuators for demanding high performance applications in harsh operating environments. The project will focus on aircraft landing gear as this has a both a demanding operating environment and loading rudiments and a requirement for lighter systems and components to reduce CO2 emissions. The output is targeting a 40% lighter hydraulic piston rod and actuator cylinder that is capable of meeting the high pressures and loads required for landing gear as well as the resistance to Skydrol and typical landing gear operating environment such as grit abrasion, runway debris and extremes of temperature. The use of fibre-reinforced titanium will be a potential solution to the need to find alternatives to chrome and cadmium plating systems under REACH. TISICS is aiming to demonstrate the potential for the technology with test data produced by the highly experienced and well-equipped facilities and staff at the AMRC in Sheffield.

The Large Landing Gear of the Future project will develop, mature and demonstrate key technologies that will improve the efficiency of aircraft landing gears in their design, manufacture, operation and cost of ownership. It will take a holistic view of the landing gear system construction and life cycle seeking to benefit from closer integration of key components and functions that have historically been addressed separately. The project will use technology demonstrators representative of an operational landing gear to validate the project outcomes. Messier-Dowty Ltd will lead a strong consortium of partners and subcontractors drawn from UK industry, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Centres and academia to deliver the project.

Current socio-economic pressures on the global civil aerospace industry are increasing the utilisation of titanium in aero-structures. Production of parts by existing methods leads to inefficient buy-to-fly ratios (as high as 20:1), which is becoming increasingly uneconomical (high material cost & labour intensive; leading to high repeat costs, long lead times & design constraints) and driving the need for structures to be fabricated by near-net-shape welding processes. Laser welding is emerging as the process of choice since it can produce low distortion welds of good quality and properties at significantly faster speeds than other welding processes. The OLIVER project will further develop knowledge in laser welding titanium and its application to structural aerospace assemblies, and at the same time exploit this knowledge by developing UK manufacturing capability both within the UK supply chain and OEMs. Project OLIVER includes 2 OEM case studies which represent first- to-market opportunities for the technologies to be developed. A further case study is included which will demonstrate the capability of laser welding a strut component in a revolutionary titanium-composite.

Pressurised systems are used extensively in many industries from breathing air tanks for rescue services, deep water oil and gas instrument housings to chemical and gas tanks used to move satellites in orbit, with the space sector having the greatest need for lightweight tanks. However the main requirements for space materials are light weight, multi-functional capabilities, smart features and outstanding thermal stability, which cannot be achieved with these conventional materials. TISICS has developed reinforced metal matrix composites (MMC) with titanium and aluminium alloy matrices. This produces metallic composite parts with very high specific strength and stiffness, and the potential to be used for in structural or complex shape tanks.

The automotive industry is being subjected to increasingly strict fuel economy restraints, alongside a growing customer demand for improved interiors, advanced safety systems and state-of-the-art entertainment facilities, all of which result in unnecessary additional weight. Tisics Ltd have designed a novel process which will use silicon carbide monofilament reinforcement to create light-weight automotive components.

High concentration hydrogen peroxide (HTP) has the potential to become the propellant of choice for low cost, high performance satellite propulsion. Until now it has only been used in launch vehicles because HTP's long term stability depends on un-conventional material choices. The UK is already leading the way in developing HTP thrusters for small satellites and this project will attempt to close the remaining gaps to enable a whole system to be created. Firstly the compatibility of the required materials will be validated through testing, secondly a new valve will be developed to regulate the flow into the thruster & thirdly a new tank will be manufactured out of a novel aluminium metal matrix composite. This material allows a tank with the chemical properties of Aluminium with the strength of Titanium. Together these components will allow the qualification of an innovative new peroxide propulsion system, making the UK a world leader in green, non-toxic, high performance propulsion for small satellites.

Awaiting Public Project Summary

This project combines Thinklaser's expertise in laser systems and mechanised product positioning gained over 20 years in the component marking sector and more recently additive layer manufacture, with TISICS' extensive experience in silicon carbide fibre production and metal matrix composites gained since the team started in 1988. A need has been identified for fibre reinforced aluminium composite structures in space, defence and civil aircraft components. The exceptionally high mechanical properties SiC fibre reinforcement imparts to the aluminium has resulted in an Al6061 material with 1200Mpa Tensile Strength and 1600MPa compression strength and 150GPa modulus. This exceeds titanium alloys whilst retaining the density of aluminium. The main components of interest are tubular structures such as pressure vessels and robotic arms for space and defence as wells as ribs and landing gear linkages and other flight actuators for aircraft. However current foil and fibre manufacturing techniques are not suitable and a new composite wire system is required which this project will deliver along with the equipment and processes to mould these target, high value light weight components.

TISICS develops and manufactures silicon carbide fibre and fibre reinforced titanium matrix and aluminium matrix composites. These metal composites are typically 30% lighter than conventional metals and up to 70% lighter in optimised designs. TISICS has been working on a collaborative space sector project and identified a potential application for fibre reinforced aluminium to reinforce liquid/vapour heat pipes used for thermal management in space and terrestrial applications. The very high strength aluminium composites (1200MPa) and high stiffness (140GPa) have higher performance than titanium alloys whilst retaining similar thermal properties to the aluminium matrix alloy. The project aims to assess fabrication and mechanical performance of metal matrix composite heat pipes as a pre-cursor to determine whether it is possible to develop a structural heat pipe for both space and terrestrial use. Combining structure and thermal management will reduce mass. Whilst space is the initial market, aerospace will follow. With appropriate capacity and economics we can address an electric car market.

TISICS limited develops and manufactures silicon carbide fibre reinforced titanium composites (TMC). TMC increases the strength and stiffness of titanium to match high strength steel, whilst retaining titanium's low density and corrosion resistance. TISICS' project will assess whether weight savings and corrosion benefits can be exploited for offshore wind turbine fasteners, where very large bolts (M30 to M60) are used. Reducing weight will help installation where mechanical handling is not easily achieved. The corrosion resistance will help reduce operating costs, which is key to economic offshore power generation. The final benefit of this approach is to develop a solution where the ceramic fibres can be used to minimise the torque relaxation which requires retightening of bolts and increased maintenance activity. TSB support will enable the UK to investigate and exploit this opportunity as part of its clean energy policy, as well as creating job opportunities in high value manufacturing.

TISICS limited are an SME that are at the forefront of silicon carbide fibre reinforced Titanium technology. This advanced metal matrix composite (MMC) material offers the same strength as steel, at a fraction of the weight. This project intends to expand on this techology to investigate aerospace and automotive applications, potentially improving fuel efficiency through reducing weights, and thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. TISICS will collaborate with material scientists at the University of Manchester to gain further understanding of the fundamental properties of these advanced MMCs. In the longer term, the UK could benefit from new job creation for the metal composite supply chain as well as increased competitiveness for UK based advanced materials suppliers ahead of international rivals.

Fibre reinforced titanium matrix composites (TMC) is an emerging materials technology for which the UK has strong industrial and academic capability. TMC is being developed for a range of industries where there is a demand for high mechanical performance, light weight and corrosion resistance. Civil aerospace is able to exploit TMC to reduce fuel burn and hence emissions into the environment, 25% or more of the operating cost is fuel. Hence there is a business case as well and an environmental case to introduce new materials. This project aims to evaluate the potential for combining high strength titanium alloy forgings with higher strength titanium composite beams for use in aircraft landing gear through diffusion bonding and secondary treatments. The project will also address a new TMC alloy foil and its interface to a forging alloy. This technology will help TMC economics and open the material to applications beyond civil aircraft such as oil & gas, energy generation and space.

This project is aimed at evaluating the potential to incorporate silicon carbide fibre and natural coconut fibres into a resin sandwich panel composite typical of the type used in aircraft cabin intereiaors and galleys. The objective is to produce a lighter thinner panel which offers airlines an appreciable benefit in weight saved and space which has an exploitable economic value. The use of these fibres has potential benefits in terms of lower carbon production compared to conventional reinforcements as well as potentailly more environmentally sustainable end of life disposal options. The material will be suited to other applications beyond aircraft intereiors, but this presents a robust long term market opportunity where the UK has strong manufacturing capability and new technologies can sustain technical adavtange over competitors. The UK also has a cabaility to make SiC Monofilament which is unique in Europe.

Fibre reinforced titanium composites are a new class of materials with significant potential for applications in civil aerospace, space, defence and energy industries. As with all materials the end of life issues and options must be understood to enable suppliers and end users to evaluate the through life aspects of products. This project aims to demonstrate that the high performance benefits of titanium composites can be retained after repair and therefore increase the life of parts and hence reduce through life costs for systems. TISICS will demonstrate this through work on a relatively simple aircraft brake component which could be introduced into service relatively quickly but offers large potential weight savings (110kg on Airbus A380s) and hence value to airlines in terms of reduced fuel burn and reduced CO2 emissions. However airlines need additional justification to introduce new technology and reduced maintenance replacement costs is a valuable benefit.

This project aims to evaluate the use of Ball Bunishing Machine Tools Ltd's patented friction enhancing agents with TISICS advanced silicon carbide fibre reinforced titanium matrix composite technology to create a new light weight corrosion resistant coupling for pipe work. The concept of the study is to exploit the anisotropy in silicon carbide fibre reinforced titanium composites to create a split coupling sleeve that is held pressed against the coupled pipes by positioning an outer hoop wound sleeve over the coupling sleeve to trap the friction enhancing agent between the coupling sleeve and the coupled pipes. Similar couplings could be made in steel but would be heavy. Light weight metals lack strength. Fibre reinforced titanium overcomes the strength issue and BBMT's friction enhancment agent provides extra grip within the coupling.

This Project will investigate the potential for powder processed high specific stiffness and strength silicon carbide fibre reinforced titanium aluminides and magnesium alloys to produce very high performance light and elevated temperature materials for demanding engineering applications. It builds on existing UK expertise in fibre reinforced titanium alloys and will enable lighter more efficient aircraft as well as more competitive space systems through reduced system mass feeing mass budget for payload or reduced launch costs. Lighter systems using reinforced magnesium have potential in future automotive and rail vehicle systems once the weight benefit and cost of composite production balance.

A novel Net Shape Manufacturing process will be developed which enables precise complex parts to be created without the need for extensive machining. The process is based on isostatic pressing of powder in a mould (canister) to produce a fully dense, high integrity part. One key benefit of the HyNIP process over Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) of powder is that it will eliminate the need to employ sacrificial metal canisters which are expensive to produce and must be stripped from the finished part by machining/etching. This makes the new process much more attractive from both a cost and environmental perspective and could increase the use of high integrity powder metallurgy processes.

Silicon carbide fibre provides a very strong and stiff material which is currently used as reinforcement in titanium composites. This material is being developed as a strong, stiff, light weight, corrosion resistant material for demanding applications such as aircraft landing gear, engines and brakes, satellite structures or defence equipment. Another major use of silicon carbide is as a cutting or abrading material because it is very hard. This project aims to utilise the silicon carbide fibres as a cutting face and combine this with the mechanical performance of titanium composite to evaluate the potential for a stiff strong light weight drill bit with the composite providing high compression strength (twice that of high strength steel), good toughness relative to an all ceramic or ceramic composite drill bit and light weight for high rotation speeds and minimal balance issues. An additional benefit is that the fibres provide a fresh cutting face as the composite matrix wears in use. Applications in mineral drilling, oil and gas drilling, decommissioning heavy plant and space exploration are envisaged.

TISICS is a UK SME specialising in the manufacture of metal matrix composites using its proprietary UK manufactured silicon carbide fibre as a reinforcement. This project aims to assess the potential to use the silicon carbide fibre to reinforce polymer matrix composites and improve compression performance as the fibre significantly enhances the compression performance in metals. TISICS aims to investigate whether the higher diameter silicon carbide fibre with high stiffness compared to a carbon fibre tow, which is very flexible leading to waviness, reduces the potential for micro buckling seen in carbon composites and hence poor compression strength. Applications in sports goods from bikes to racing car roll hoops as well as higher value aerospace and industrial applications have been identified which would benefit from higher compression strength.

This project is the first stage of the development of the mechanical platform for European telecommunications satellites in the 3 to 6 tonne range. The mechanical platform comprises the satellite structure, propulsion and thermal control system. The project will study and trade-off new architectures for the mechanical platform which better address the requirements of the communications payload and optimise the propulsive efficiency. The project is a collaborative venture between Astrium and a number of industrial and academic partners that is intended to encourage technological innovation and enhace the competitiveness of the UK supply chain. This project forms part of the wider European development of the Next Generation Platform.

Titanium matrix composites (TMC), silicon carbide fibre in a titanium alloy matrix, are novel materials with a unique combination of strength and low weight attractive in a range of applications e.g. aerospace, space and energy sectors. The objective of the TICCRAMM – Titanium Matrix Composite Cost Reduction and Manufacturing Maturity - project is to develop existing production technologies for TMC to lay the foundation for a high value supply chain into these sectors. The proposal brings together a consortium led by TMC specialist SME TISICS of OEMs Rolls-Royce and Messier Bugatti Dowty, SKYLON spacecraft development SME Reaction Engines and supply chain partner Bodycote HIP. The project aims to resolve key technological challenges for greater manufacturing maturity and viable manufacturing economics; reducing silicon carbide fibre process steps, developing customisable net shape manufacturing methods, new low cost and / or reusable tooling materials and improving feedstock conversion. Current low volume demand, low maturity and manufacturing methods dispersed between OEMs and SMEs make the technology uneconomic at present; success will lead to a world-leading, low-cost integrated capability for TMC as the foundation of a future UK supply chain for demanding applications, markets, and environments which are mass critical and unsuited to polymer composites. In aerospace TMC can reduce weight and thus fuel burn, emissions and life cycle costs. Similarly, improved performance, reliability and service life can be achieved in other sectors.

Storage vessels for pressurised gases or liquids range from low cost welded steel to high technology propellant storage tanks, for example for satellites where tank performance and capacity impact greatly on operational cost and potential revenue. TISICS lightweight high strength titanium matrix composites (TMC) were developed for civil aircraft use where low weight and high performance hugely benefit fuel burn and emissions. Consultation with the space industry has identified TMC pressure vessels as a viable route to reduce weight and increase storage capacity compared to traditional materials i.e. through thinner walls or greater pressure containment. This leads to launch cost savings and increased revenue due to extended communication satellite operational life. Time to market for satellite use is long, thus TISICS aims to capitalise on these benefits by applying them to sub-sea O&G e.g. exploration sampling vessels (where mass and corrosion are issues) and chemical industries (pharmaceutical and electronic, where tank integrity and elimination of contamination are critical) to build a robust business case and accelerate supply chain and manufacturing development. In this study TISICS will model the performance of TMC pressure vessel designs compared too current state of the art and assess manufacturing, cost and regulatory issues. Consultation with end users and designers will address potential market size, competing technologies and identify threats or possible partnership opportunities. The study is expected to lead to prototype pressure vessel development.

Awaiting Public Summary

The AVLAM project, which started in June 2008, undertook ground-breaking research into the use of Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) in conjunction with advanced CAD/CAM techniques to enable cost effective and environmentally sustainable high value manufacturing. The flexibility of the ALM process and its ability to produce complex net-shape parts with little or no material waste was seen as an attractive enabling technology for a future low-carbon economy, with the UK leading the world in this field. In AVLAM, commercially available Titanium Alloy powder and Titanium matrix composites were used to produce net shape components, minimising waste from the manufacturing process whilst also reducing the weight of structural parts through material tailoring and topology optimisation. This represented a step change in manufacturing technology, and potentially defining ALM as key enabler for many innovative engineering products in the future. The consortium included Partners from different areas of the development and supply chain. These included EADS Innovation Works, Bombardier Aerospace, The Welding Insititute (TWI), Materialise, TISICS and the University of Exeter. This partnership included two of the largest European aerospace manufacturers, as well as a number of ALM technology experts, Metal Matrix Composite experts and Universities. Between them the consortium has access to a wide range of ALM equipment, such as MTT SLM systems, Concept Laser M2, EOS M270, Arcam A2, Accufusion Laser Consolidation, Trumpf DMD505, and a bespoke system where a 7kW laser beam is manipulated using a high accuracy robot.

The public description for this project has been requested but has not yet been received.