SWSTech AG takes pride in solving ingenious technological challenges in the production of components. The example presented here is a new turbine wheel in titanium aluminide (TiAl) produced by the company.
If most thermally exposed exhaust gas turbochargers’ turbine wheels were, until today, cast and finished by machining, they are nowadays more and more often realized by CNC milling in new lighter materials.
Innovative project In the automotive, industry and more particularly in motorsports, the relatively high density of turbine wheels (8.5 g/cm³) and the resulting rather passive behaviour of the turbochargers have always been a source of annoyance. Dynamic researchers have succeeded in developing a new titanium alloy that is close to nickel based alloys in regard to resistance to high temperatures but whose density is much lower (3.8 g/cm³).
SWSTech AG equipment enables the manufacture of prototypes of milled turbine wheels that are usually cast in nickel-based alloys, a tedious operation. In the current project, the wheel is milled in a single operation from titanium aluminide, a high-tech material difficult to machine. The rotor without central bore is firmly tight on a Hermle 5 axis machining center by an automatic process. All operations can be machined within an optimal cycle time thanks to the excellent accessibility to the part.
Multifunction cutting oil During the various milling operations, the Swisscut Ortho NF-X 10 universal high performance cutting oil of Motorex has fulfilled several functions that played a decisive role in the outcome of machining: hard chip evacuation, cooling of the tool and the machined part, development of a lubricant film between the blade of the tool and the workpiece and surface protection of the part.
. Motorex AG Langenthal Technischer Kundendienst (technical Customer Service) POSTFACH CH-4901 Langenthal Tel. + 41 (0) 62 919 74 74 Fax + 41 (0) 62 919 76 96 www.motorex.com . SWSTech AG Langfeldstrasse 90 CH-8500 Frauenfeld Tel. + 41 (0) 52 723 49 00 Fax + 41 (0) 52 723 49 01 www.swstech.com
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