Wolfmet Tungsten Alloy Proves More Is Less

July 8, 2008 - PRLog -- Recent increases in fuel prices and forecasts for more to come have focussed aircraft owners and operators into doing all they can to minimise their use of fuel.  Assisting in the drive for fuel efficiency, lower operating costs and reduced carbon footprint, an unlikely sounding alloy is providing solutions for aircraft manufacturers worldwide.

With a density over sixty percent greater than lead, Wolfmet tungsten alloys may be a less-than-obvious choice of material for use in airframes, yet in mid-sized aircraft design they deliver key advantages.

Wolfmet’s high density, coupled with good mechanical properties and machining characteristics, allows designers to make significant reductions in the physical size of components. For a given moment about a pivot, Wolfmet alloys therefore allow a lighter balance weight to be sited further from the pivot point.  Lower aircraft weight means better fuel efficiency, increased payload availability or greater speed capability.

Due to the very high melting point of tungsten (in excess of 3000 °C), Wolfmet alloys cannot be manufactured by traditional casting methods. To overcome this, Wolfmet alloys are manufactured by powder metallurgy techniques. One of the advantages of manufacturing by powder metallurgy methods is that small batch quantities, even single pieces, can be achieved without the severe cost penalties associated with other production methods.

M&I Materials has AS 9100 accreditation, and produces Wolfmet materials in accordance with an ISO 9001:2000 approved QA system, including Aerospace Sector Certificate Scheme TS 157-1993.  Wolfmet components also meet the United States military MIL-T-21014 specification.

M&I Materials Ltd has a state-of-the-art Wolfmet production facility at Trafford Park, Manchester, with an international order book in aerospace, automotive, motor racing, medical and engineering applications. M&I Materials Ltd performs the whole production process, from powder blending through to machining, to achieve unrivalled quality and value in the finished component.  Further information is available at www.wolfmet.com.

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Manufacturer of specialist materials for Industry & Science. M&I Materials is an international business with customers throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australasia and South Africa. The company operates through our direct sales staff and a worldwide network of agents and distributors, backed by a multilingual technical sales team based at its headquarters at Trafford Park, Manchester, UK.