Summer 2020 will see NSTU NETI engineers installing and commissioning one of the most powerful magnetic pulse industrial complexes in Russia at Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association Plant.
The unit will be put into operation by the end of 2020. It will produce outboard tank parts and fuselage parts for the Su-34. In the future, this unit is to be used for the manufacture of the SSJ-100 fuselage parts which are also produced at the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association Plant.
The main task of NSTU NETI Aircraft Faculty engineers is to integrate this unit into the aircraft plant production process, perform some structural tests of the produced details and confirm their supposed high quality.
The use of the unit will significantly increase the speed of production. "The power of the unit allows producing parts that are currently manufactured on a conventional press plate and require manual finishing. Thus the aircraft factory will get finished parts faster and spend less resources on their production," says Nikolai Kurlaev, the work supervisor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, head of the Aircraft and Helicopter Engineering Department.
The technology of magnetic pulse materials processing is based on the conversion of stored electrical energy into an alternating magnetic field, which results into the plastic deformation of the workpiece. This technology has a wide range of application, since the impact on the workpiece is carried out remotely, without any contact. It allows processing parts with complex shape or structure, polished or painted surface, as well as impacting the molten metals or workpieces that are placed in a vacuum sealed containers.
NSTU NETI produced the unit together with scientists of Samara National Research University. The tests were carried out in mid-April 2020. The total stored energy of the complex is 80 kilojoules, which is the most powerful industrial magnetic pulse unit in Russia.