The largest-ever research project backed by Innovate UK for developing cost-effective titanium alloy structural airframe parts will be showcased at an event taking place in the Midlands on 29 June.

Kuka will be hosting the event at its Halesowen facility to highlight the results of the three-year TiFab programme, which predicts that annual material savings of around £9 million can be achieved.

The Open Day programme includes a series of presentations by TiFab Consortium members and a demonstration of the linear friction welding process used by a Thompson LR50 machine.

Consortium members Kuka, CAV Advanced Technologies, Ten Solutions and The Welding Institute have been exploring the use of the linear friction welding method to bond light-weight titanium alloy parts.

With support from several OEMs, they have studied more than 170 aircraft components as part of the £2.6 million project and identified that manufacturers could save more than 200 tonnes of titanium a year.

Sanjiv Mann, senior programme manager at Kuka (www.kuka.com), says: “We are keen to share the exciting results of the TiFab project and show how we’ve accomplished a 100% success rate in producing tailored blank solutions and achieved material savings of at least 30%.

The research programme has already examined a large range of candidate parts, created design solutions for tailored blanks and established weld process parameters.”

Further details of the Open Day, which runs from 10am to 2pm, can be found at the Web site(www.nearnetshape.co.uk).