Dynamic Flowform is in full rate production for the US Marines’ new 60mm Light Weight Mortar system which has been fielded in Afghanistan.   This new system is 9 lbs. lighter than the previous, steel system.  Find out more details on the US Marines website.

Matthew Fonte, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Dynamic Flowform, will present at two international conferences this October.

1.     “Precise, Seamless, Superalloy Tubes Made with Flowform Process” will be the topic at the Pipe & Tube Pittsburgh 2010 Conference , October 3-5, 2010.  This conference is co-sponsored by The Tube & Pipe Association, International (TPA) USA and the International Tube Association (ITA).
 
2.     At the International Titanium Conference, Dr. Fonte will present on the “Low Cost Titanium Pipe – Flowform, Powder Titanium Tubes”, Orlando 3-6.   The US Navy – Amphibious Transport Dock will be used as a case study examining how flowformed titanium can help in three areas: affordability, weight reduction, life cycle costs
 
For more information on flowformed tubes and pipes or on having Matthew Fonte present at your conference, please contact info@flowform.com.

Dynamic Flowform Corp. has been collaborating with scientists and engineers at the US Air Force to flowform a new class of alloys.  The Air Force team has been developing and transitioning titanium-boron, an alloy that has high strength and stiffness as well as low density.  This new class of alloys could potentially fulfill the Air Force’s latest needs in aerospace structures, engine components, and spacecraft components.

Additions of 500-1000 parts per million of boron helps with the formation of equiaxed alpha, instead of lamellar alpha.  Specifically, these changes provide an order-of-magnitude reduction in cast grain size and eliminate rapid grain growth above the beta transus, while retaining strength, stiffness and fracture properties (ductility, toughness, fatigue).  These Ti-B alloys thus transcend the boundaries currently limiting manufacturability.  They enable a radical shift in the manufacturing process paths for the titanium industry including dramatic reduction or elimination of ingot breakdown enabled by an order-of-magnitude decrease in as-cast grain size, radical innovation in mill processing routines by relaxing current constraints imposed by the beta transus and new paradigms in secondary manufacturing such as flowforming, rolling, and super-plastic forming.

Ti-B material that has been flowformed and annealed achieved strength levels of 150 ksi Yield Strength, 160 ksi Ultimate Tensile Strength with 26% elongation.  Today, Dynamic Flowform is actively working with industry, the US Army, Navy and Air Force, offering them manufacturing cost reductions using these strong flowformed Ti-B alloys.

Recently, the special metals department of an oil exploration company contacted Dynamic Flowform.  They needed an open-ended, instrument housing made out of a high strength, corrosion resistant material.  Traditionally, the piece was manufactured by gun drilling, machining and honing.  The customer learned that flowforming is a cold work process and that by flowforming their piece, they could reach the material’s peak mechanical properties.  After comparing the previous method of manufacturing and flowforming, they were eager to start flowforming their component.  Additionally, flowforming offered the customer the following benefits:

• The starting preform material requirement is one-fifth the length of the existing housing, saving material.
• The component has refined grain sizes from the flowform process.
• Extremely tight tolerances on concentricity, straightness and diameter are achievable through flowforming.

Having now received their finished components, our customer is pleased with the quality of the flowformed part, the cost-savings and the fact that Dynamic Flowform was able to meet their tight deadline. 

Dynamic Flowform has successfully flowformed cradle and recoil tubes for the M777 light-weight 155mm Howitzer guns. This work was performed for the United States Army through the National Center for Excellence in Metalworking Technology (NCEMT). These gun systems are made from titanium 6-Al-4V (grade 5). They will be used by the both the Marine Corps and Army. Initially, the cradle and recoil tubes were produced by extruding a thick-walled tube, measuring each individual extrusion for roundness and straightness, bump-straightening the extrusion, and then machining the extrusion wall thickness to meet the final tube requirements. By flowforming, Dynamic has been able to offer the Army a net-shape cradle and recoil tube which eliminates several manufacturing processes and reduces material waste. The flowforming manufacturing approach Dynamic developed offers the Army substantial cost-savings.

In this article, case studies on Inconel 718 show that flowforming improves the grain structure of the material. 

The plastic deformation of the flowforming process significantly increases the strength of Titanium 6Al-4V while still maintaining good tensile ductility. Case studies are explained in this article.