According to a study by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), global aluminium demand will grow by 40 per cent by 2030, from 86.2 million tonnes in 2020 to 119.5 million tonnes in 2030. An important sector here is the transport industry – from bicycles, to cars and trucks, right through to aircraft construction. Machining specialists such as the Tübingen-based manufacturer Walter have been addressing this dynamically growing market for some years now with a special range of products.
High-performance machining systems are making new demands
Aluminium alloys are used particularly in areas where relatively high toughness of a component and a low weight have to be reconciled. Lightweight construction is therefore booming, especially in the mobility sector. However, this special combination of material properties also makes machining demanding. The high ductility of wrought aluminium alloys, for example, leads to build-up on the cutting edge, and long chips can impair process reliability. In aircraft construction above all, components are also often milled out of the solid material. The machining volume here can be up to 95 per cent of the blank. In addition, many components are also relatively large and complex in shape, which makes clamping difficult. For this reason, large, cost-intensive machines or machining centres with very powerful spindles are often used in aluminium machining, with which the required metal removal rates can be achieved economically. Today, values above 80 kW are standard – the latest generation of machines has a spindle output of around 130 kW.
This story is from the Efficient Manufacturing - Mar 2024 Issue edition of EM - Efficient Manufacturing.
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This story is from the Efficient Manufacturing - Mar 2024 Issue edition of EM - Efficient Manufacturing.
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