Competence partner for all component sizes and materials
“In the DMG MORI Aerospace Excellence Center we support our customers from the feasibility analysis to profitability assessments and on to installation of the machines including customised application technology and an extensive aftersales service”, is how Michael Kirbach describes the service portfolio. The time scale here, from the first enquiry until acceptance of the project, can take anything up to two or even three years. “Our service commitment applies equally for the entire DMG MORI portfolio, of course - from turning and milling to the integration of technologies and on through to include ULTRASONIC, LASERTEC and ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING.”
DMG MORI’s ambitious growth targets require a dynamic market. But air traffic is booming and so, of course, is the sale of aircraft. Leading aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing, for example, expect the aircraft fleet to more than double by 2036. A large passenger plane is made up of over three million components. Capacities must therefore be expanded enormously if this demand is to be met. In contrast to its competitors, DMG MORI covers by far the majority of the different workpieces with its manufacturing solutions.
The machine tool manufacturer also benefits from the work in the DMG MORI Aerospace Excellence Center on a technological level, explains Michael Kirbach: “Due to the fact that our experts are involved very early on in the development of customer products, we gain a lot of important experience as well as extensive knowledge. Both are incorporated directly in the development of new machines and components in close dialogue with the design engineers in the DMG MORI production plants – for example where it is a question of the efficient machining of special aerospace materials. We have been pursuing this strategy consistently for over 20 years.”
Lightweight construction is the dominating topic
Aircraft are getting lighter and more efficient – in particular due to new materials. New materials in turn open up undreamt of freedoms in the design of components. The structural parts of aircraft contribute greatly to the total mass, so there is an increasing tendency to use CRP and titanium for such parts in addition to aluminium. The low density of the materials plus their high degree of stability enable advanced geometries such as thin-walled components, for example. This also applies in the construction of engines, where titanium alloys and especially increasingly heat-resistant nickel alloys play a key role.
The choice of material alone indicates just how application-specific a manufacturing solution has to be”, stresses Michael Kirbach in connection with lightweight constructions. In particular, the volume of chips produced during the machining of aluminium from the solid is a challenge – up to 90 percent of the raw material often has to be removed. The machining of titanium components, on the other hand, demands machines designed especially for heavy-duty metal removal. “It is exactly in the question of the material where our customers benefit from our enormous range of machines and technologies. Highly dynamic horizontal centres and our new gantry machines for aluminium and CRP/GRP components, duoBLOCK machines for the high-speed milling of titanium are just as much part of the portfolio as mill-turn or turn-mill machines for the 5-axis machining of rotationally symmetric workpieces in just a few setups in engine construction, for example.” There is virtually no component for which DMG MORI cannot offer a manufacturing solution.