Doncasters - Military Aircraft Components and Precision Machining Facilities

Doncasters Group Ltd is a major international manufacturing organisation, providing components for the military aerospace and defence industries.

Key areas include structural components, exhaust assemblies, engine fabrications and panels, combustion components, casings, rings and discs, machined airfoils, turbine airfoils and fan blades.

STRUCTURAL MILITARY AEROSPACE COMPONENTS, FABRICATIONS AND ASSEMBLIES

Investment cast structural components are produced in a wide range of air-melted steels, cobalt alloys and vacuum cast nickel-based superalloys. Parts can be supplied in a fully finished condition to include machining, fabrication and assembly

Components can be produced in sizes from 5mm to 1,400mm diameter and pour weights of 5kg to 500kg are possible. Titanium investment castings to 90kg and sand castings to 350kg can also be produced.

On-site engineering expertise and rapid prototyping capability is available for concurrent engineering projects on new parts.

COMBAT AIRCRAFT ENGINE FABRICATIONS

Doncasters manufactures a wide range of military aerospace engine fabrications and panels, providing typical engine products such as combustion chamber inner and outer casings, noise attenuators, seals and bearing supports, along with airframe parts such as slat track cans, pylon fairings and oil cooler pans.

Fully machined and finished fabrications of up to almost 2m diameter can be produced in nickel and titanium alloys and special stainless steels, using a range of metal manipulating and finishing processes. These include hot and cold sheet metal pressing, superplastic forming / diffusion bonding, stretch forming, CNC machining up to five axes, semi-automatic riveting and vacuum heat treatment.

EXHAUST ASSEMBLIES FOR MILITARY AEROSPACE

Doncasters is a leading manufacturer of military aircraft and helicopter exhaust systems. These systems are produced in-house in nickel based and titanium alloys using techniques such as hot and cold hydrobulging, multi-axis machining, laser cutting and TIG welding.

Doncasters is also well-known for its expertise in the repair of exhaust assemblies.

COMBUSTION COMPONENTS

Doncasters manufactures a range of cast, fabricated and machined combustion components and systems for airframe manufacturers throughout the world.

The product range, which extends across many programmes, includes combustors, ducts, fairings, oil and drain tanks, reheat and augmentor flaps, discharge nozzles, fuel manifolds and injectors, engine casings, bearings and turbine housings, attenuators, nacelle components and jet pipes.

MACHINE AIRFOILS

Doncasters produces a wide size range of airfoils, from small turbo props up to today's high thrust turbo fan engines. Capabilities include machining from Doncasters' indigenous forging sources, machining from barstock and providing precision airfoil forgings and castings.

MILITARY AEROSPACE TURBINE AIRFOILS

Investment cast turbine airfoils are produced in a wide range of equiaxed, single crystal and directionally solidified vacuum cast superalloys. Components can be produced in sizes up to 800mm.

FAN BLADES FOR COMBAT AIRCRAFT

Doncasters is a leading manufacturer of forged fan blades for the military aerospace industry, offering programme management from raw materials to engine ready components.

The Group is a specialist in precision and envelope forgings in titanium, nickel, stainless steel, aluminium and aluminium metal matrices, with the ability to manufacture precision forgings with engine-ready airfoil and swept surfaces, oversize forgings for subsequent conventional machining and close tolerance oversize forgings for subsequent electrochemical machining.

ROLLED RINGS FOR MILITARY ENGINE PROGRAMMES

Using titanium and nickel-based alloys, Doncasters specialises in ring rolled forgings for a number of military engine programmes. Doncasters' rolled rings are forged from billet or ingot and ring rolled in sizes up to 4m in diameter. Doncasters' flash butt welded rings are manufactured from extruded or rolled bar, coiled and flash butt welded in materials including nickel and titanium alloys and stainless steels in sizes up to 2,000mm diameter.

PRECISION MACHINING TECHNIQUES

Doncasters offers comprehensive machining facilities, including more than 70 3-axis, 4-axis and 5-axis CNC machine tools, CBN grinding, creep feed grinding, turning, non-destructive testing and electrochemical machining.