Wheelabrator Group Peening and Surface Engineering Solutions
Wheelabrator Group is the world leader in the design and manufacture of surface treatment equipment. We provide automated and manual air blast, wheel blast, wet blast and vibratory finishing equipment, to prepare, clean, peen and polish components. Additionally, we also provide an expert sub-contract service for processing your components.
Aircraft engines and structures often require blasting, shot peening and mass finishing to strengthen the material, prepare the surface for further processes like plasma spray, reduce surface profiles and increase the operating life of critical components. Through our unique understanding of the precision and repeatability required, Wheelabrator Group treatment of aerospace and aircraft parts is a critical step in the manufacturing process.
Conformance to audits and specifications such as NADCAP, SAE, MIL, AMS are closely monitored and applied during the design of Wheelabrator Group equipment. Additionally, we provide the option of simple process controls in our peening systems as an alternative to equipment with more complex controls.
AIR BLAST, WHEEL BLAST, WET BLAST AND VIBRATORY FINISHING
For aerospace applications, we provide the following equipment and sub-contract services:
Fuselage / outer skins:
- Chemical-free selective paint stripping
- Rib peen forming, distortion correction and saturation peening
Wings:
- Peening stringers and spars
- Preparing surfaces prior to bonding
- Skin peen forming and saturation peening
Landing gear / components:
- Chemical-free depainting
- Surface etching and texturing
- Shot peening for fatigue life improvement and restoration
- Blast cleaning
Engines:
- Chemical-free depainting
- Removal of plasma coating
- Surface preparation
- Shot peening
- Blast cleaning
SHOT PEENING FOR AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS
Shot peening is used to induce residual compressive stress in the surface of components that are prone to cyclic and repetitive loads, such as landing gears, wing spars, wing ribs, stringers, engine blades, shafts and discs. This process can also reduce stress corrosion cracking.
There are two specialised processes derived from shot peening:
Shot peen forming: the natural effect of the process compresses and extends the superficial layer of the component causing it to bow. This process is used to form skins, access panels, wing flaps, fuselage sections, etc.
Correction of distortion: uses the same technique but in reverse. When a component is distorted due to machining or heat, shot peening is used to compress and stretch the local areas to achieve the required flatness. This is used for ribs, spars and other complex structural metallic parts.
WHEELABRATOR GROUP TECHNOLOGIES
Our technologies, coupled with our global experience, allow the Wheelabrator Group to service a wide range of requirements. Regardless of the size of the part to be processed or your productivity requirements, we will design and construct the appropriate surface engineering solution for your needs. Among other processes, our technologies are used to remove scale, paint, flashing, grease and burrs as well as peen, etch, polish, deburr and profile parts.
Besides aerospace applications, Wheelabrator Group technologies have been used for:
- Autosport: shot peening stub axles
- Automotive: cleaning / peening engines and engine components
- Railway: cleaning railway carriages
- Diecasting: deflashing parts
- Manufacturing: rust and scale removal from structural steel
- Medical: peening medical implants
- Optical: cleaning and polishing spectacle frames
- Mining: peening mining drill bits
- Speciality Metals: imparting surface profiles
Equipment and sub-contract services are regularly provided to most of the key Aerospace OEMs such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, BF Goodrich, General Electric, Messier and Pratt & Whitney.
We hold various aerospace accreditations and supplier approvals.
Our internationally renowned products and services include Abrasive Developments, Clean-Tek, Impact Finishers, Schlick, Sisson Lehmann, Vacu-Blast, Walther Trowal and Wheelabrator.
Products and Services
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Related Projects
Bombardier Aerospace Q400 Dash 8
Bombardier Q300 DHC-8 Dash 8
Cessna SkyCourier 408 Turboprop Aircraft
Airbus A350 XWB
Gulfstream G500 Business Jet
Airbus H175 Helicopter
ARJ21 Regional Jet Aircraft, China
AgustaWestland AW109 Power Light Multirole Helicopter
Boeing 777 Long-Range Wide Body Airliner
AgustaWestland Grand
Airbus A380-800F Wide-Bodied Freighter
Airbus A380 Superjumbo Airliner
Airbus A310-200F
Bombardier Global 5000
Boeing 737 Next-Generation (NG) Narrow Body Airliner
AgustaWestland AW119 Koala
Bombardier Learjet 31A
Bombardier CRJ200
Hawker Beechcraft Hawker 800XP
Hawker Beechcraft Hawker 400XP
Boeing 767
Airbus A340-600
Bell Agusta BA609
AgustaWestland AW139
Hawker Beechcraft Premier 1
Bombardier Challenger 604
Bombardier Challenger 300
AgustaWestland AW101 Medium-Lift
Bombardier Canadair 415 Superscooper
Hawker Beechcraft Hawker 4000
Airbus A330 Wide-Bodied Medium / Long-Range Twin-Engine Airliner, Europe
BAE 146
BAE Avro RJX
Airbus A320
Bombardier Learjet 45
Bombardier Global Express
Airbus A318
Airbus A340-200 and A340-300
BAE Avro RJ
Airbus A310
Airbus A300-600
Airbus A300-600ST Beluga
Bombardier CRJ700 Jet
Boeing 747-400 Intercontinental Airliner
Press Release
Wheelabrator Impact Finishers celebrated being the first shot peening subcontract supplier in the UK to win the supply chains for the 21st century (SC21) bronze award at the SC21 Task Force Conference at the Williams F1 conference centre in Oxfordshire.
Read moreA new video from Wheelabrator presents the team and the operations of the Wheelabrator Technology Centre, Metelen, in Germany.
Read moreWheelabrator engineers have developed a new Robot Peener to deliver three times faster process time with complete process reliability.
Read moreWheelabrator Plus is pleased to have continued its important certification AS / EN 9100 aerospace quality management system accreditation to perform sub contract finishing of customer parts at its Birmingham site.
Read moreWheelabrator has extended its successful Module8 concept for a new generation of wet blast machines.
Read moreWheelabrator is delighted to add another important certification to its portfolio by recently gaining the prestigious AS /EN 9100 aerospace Quality Management System accreditation to perform sub contract finishing of customer parts at its Birmingham site. Not only has it achieved this high-status
Read moreHigh pressure and extreme temperatures are definitely something that materials sent into space need to cope with. The fuel tanks for the European carrier rocket “Ariane” are an important component of the aerospace project and have high complexity and extraordinary safety requirements.
Read morePeen forming by blasting with steel shot is now carried out by Dassault Aviation at their Seclin site (northern France) to correct the distortion of mechanical parts after their shapes have become altered during the manufacturing process, or to complete the shape of the Falcon 7x wing panels afte
Read moreUnder the Ministry of Defence, specifically the Air Force, Atelier Industriel de l‘Aéronautique (AIA) based in Bordeaux, France is responsible for the industrial maintenance and overhaul of the Aeronefs engines. AIA had to renew their shot blasting machines as most of their equip
Read moreWheelabrator continues to provide innovative peening solutions to Skills Inc., in its Auburn, Washington facility. With a September 2008 installation of a Wheelabrator Inline Peening machine; this is the company’s second Wheelabrator installation in 3 years. Skills Inc., a supplier to major aircr
Read moreThe Wheelabrator Technology Centre in Charleville-Mézières, France, designs, develops and manufactures a wide range of a multi-axis shot peening equipment. In addition to their renowned MP range (CNC machines), the MPR (robotised shot peening machine) range offers optimal solutions for various sh
Read moreWheelabrator Group has successfully delivered and commissioned a MPD 15000 CNC peen forming machine to Beijing Aeronautical Manufacturing Technology Research Institute (BAMTRI) in August 2008. This equipment was mainly used for the peen forming and shot peening of large aircraft compone
Read moreLeading manufacturer GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems is flying through the cleaning process at its UK site in Birmingham. Thanks to Wheelabrator Group, it has seen a 66 per cent reduction in the time taken to remove oxides from tooling parts at its factory in Kings Norton, UK. GKN Aerospace pu
Read moreShot peening is a cold working process used to enhance the fatigue resistance of highly stressed metallic components such as compressor blades, aircraft structural parts and transmission systems. Any metallic component that is subjected to cyclic stresses within its elastic limit can benefit from
Read moreA quality blast result is key to customer satisfaction, but it is not the only deciding factor for aerospace companies when making equipment purchasing decisions. Efficiency and cost are also high on the priority list. The double-frame technology blast machine from Wheelabrator Group offers you f
Read moreImpact Finishers, the sub-contract division of Wheelabrator Group has passed an in-depth examination to receive the aerospace industry’s acclaimed NADCAP accreditation. The distinction applies to Impact Finishers sub-contract shot peening facilities in the UK at Slough and Coventry. La
Read moreThe Wheelabrator Group Technology Centre in Charleville, France, specialises in the development and manufacturing of shot-peening machines and 'airblast precision equipment' dedicated to the aerospace industry. The range, principally CNC machines and robotic systems, offers a set of successful an
Read moreIn 2002 MTU Maintenance bought surface preparation equipment from Wheelabrator Group for their new plant in Zhuhai China. The package included one shot blast machine, one shot peening machine, two wet blasting/peening machines and four hand blasting cabinets. Three years later MTU came
Read moreStressed out aerospace companies can take to the skies after Wheelabrator Group announced it had signed an exclusive deal with high-tech French peening specialists Sonats, bringing a new range of machines to Asia. Sonats' innovative technology is similar to traditional shotpeening processes, usin
Read moreThe Wheelabrator Group has successfully delivered and commissioned a wing-peening system for the XAIC aircraft-manufacturing company, located in X'ian, China. The new MP 20,000 machine will be mainly used for peen forming and saturation strengthening of wing-skin panels of large-sized civil airpl
Read moreThe Wheelabrator Group has successfully delivered and commissioned a wing-peening system for the XAIC aircraft-manufacturing company, located in X'ian, China. The new MP 20,000 machine will be mainly used for peen forming and saturation strengthening of wing-skin panels of large-sized civil airpl
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