"What is it like to carve patterns on tempered glass?" A process engineer from an aerospace power research institute once compared carbon-carbon composite thread processing in this way. This new material, which is five times harder than steel, is triggering a process revolution in the manufacturing of hot-end components of aircraft engines.
Processed products
Material: carbon-carbon composite material (density 1.78g/cm³, interlaminar shear strength 28MPa)
Processing features: 5mm diameter deep hole thread processing
Thread accuracy: M5×0.8-6H grade
Processing background and difficulties
A. Strategic materials encounter processing difficulties
As the preferred material for the throat lining of the fourth-generation aircraft engine nozzle, carbon-carbon composite materials need to withstand 3000℃ gas scouring. Its unique "sandwich" structure (carbon fiber + pyrolytic carbon matrix) provides excellent heat resistance while also bringing a processing nightmare - conventional drilling will produce up to 120μm of chipping edges.
B. Failure cycle of traditional technology
In the trial production of a certain model of engine, the breakage rate of carbide taps reached 47%, and the verticality of the thread of manual tapping exceeded 0.25mm/10mm. More fatally, the damaged fiber layer will cause catastrophic delamination during the engine test.
MID solutions' technical breakthrough
In view of the "brittle peeling" characteristics of layered composite materials, MID solutions builds a three-dimensional processing protection system:
• 40kHz ultrasonic axial vibration system to control the cutting temperature below 120℃
• Diamond-coated drilling and milling tools, with edge passivation to R0.02mm
• Helical interpolation milling process to achieve 0.8mm pitch ±0.005mm control
Processing verification results
In the batch processing of Long March series launch vehicle engine nozzle components, MID solutions achieved:
Threaded hole verticality 0.03mm/10mm
Go/no-go gauge inspection pass rate 98.6%
Single-piece processing time reduced from 45 minutes to 8 minutes
After 200 hours of test, no thermal shock cracks appeared in the threaded connection parts
About MID:
Relying on a 7,500-square-meter precision manufacturing base, MID focuses on providing one-stop services for high-difficulty parts in the fields of aerospace, medical equipment, and robots.
