Aerobraze Engineered Technologies Oklahoma City has been awarded a five-year contract with the United States Air Force (USAF) for the remanufacture of F-16 fighter aircraft regenerative heat exchangers at Tinker Air Force Base. Located in Oklahoma, Tinker Air Force Base is the headquarters of the Air Force Materiel Command’s (AFMC) Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC), which manages aircraft, engines, missiles and more. Aerobraze Oklahoma City specializes in the remanufacture and overhaul of F-16 Inconel and aluminum heat exchangers. Assemblies meet stringent U.S. military requirements, including extreme temperatures, to resist cracking and failure over long-time use. These processes have resulted in efficiency and significant cost savings to maintain and extend the life of F-16 operations.

GKN Aerospace will relocate its North America additive manufacturing (AM) center of excellence to the Lone Star Commerce Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The 100,000-square-foot facility will initially house research and development of laser metal deposition with wire (LMD-w) AM technology for large-scale titanium aerostructures. Early in 2023, GKN Aerospace will transfer existing equipment and personnel from Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Tennessee to the new site in Texas. Over the next few years, GKN Aerospace expects to transform the facility into its fourth Global Technology Center to complement existing centers in Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

L&L Special Furnace Company Inc. shipped a large high-temperature box furnace to a Midwest plant starting production on ceramic matrix parts that will be used in military and aerospace applications. The furnace, which has been commissioned, has an effective work zone of 32 inches wide x 30 inches high x 50 inches deep and is capable of reaching temperatures up to 3100°F (1700°C) under partial atmospheric pressure. There is also a vacuum pump to help remove oxygen prior to beginning the thermal cycle.