BACKGROUND:

BrahMos, developed by Godrej Aerospace, is short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. This missile was being developed by a joint venture between DRDO, India and NPOM, Russia. These missiles that are being developed at Godrej Aerospace Division plant in Mumbai have speeds that range between 3,430 Kms/Hr to 3,675 Kms/Hr. It has a Russian design and requires manufacturing bi-metallic adaptors made up of Aluminium Alloy – Pure Aluminium – Stainless Steel.

Earlier, various components of this missile were being developed partly using friction welding technology and partly using other methods such as Explosion Welding technique in Russia. India had to depend on Russia for Explosion Welding, since implementing this technology in India delivered up to 80% rejection. Further, explosion welding also posed safety threat and caused environmental pollution.

This led to increased dependency on a foreign country, which made India vulnerable to geo-political changes. Further, the method of developing this component – bimetallic adaptors – led to increased loss of time, effort and money.

NEED:

Godrej Aerospace needed a solution that would reduce these losses, mitigate risks and cut-down dependencies on other countries. After studying the process of component manufacturing thoroughly, we at FWT, suggested critical design changes to the entire system and recommended Friction Welding instead of Explosion Welding. The design changes were carefully studied by NPOM, Russia, for its reliability and effectiveness, and approved. This process could potentially reduce the rejection factor from 80% to ZERO% straight away. It was then decided to use Friction Welding technology to develop machine that could develop small-sized as well as big-sized bimetallic adaptors here in India.

CHALLENGE:

The world leaders in friction welding technology industry quoted for two machines (80 Ton and 20 Ton) to build different types of adapters. FWT studied carefully, every aspect of the project; its varied applications, versatility requirements, and many other parameters. FWT skinned down the irrelevant and redundant, and quoted for a single custom-built 50 Ton machine with combined capabilities of two machines. However, the industry gurus recommended that this machine ought to be at least 70 Ton. But with thorough expertise in the technology, FWT challenged the impossible, and committed to deliver components with multiple geometries across multiple sizes at high levels of quality, precision and robustness, using a single 50 Ton machine and within the given timeframe.

FWT INNOVATION

When the system was built in a record-time, ten unique jobs were created and their weld-quality was tested across various parameters. Every component passed each and every test successfully. The company achieved a massive success when the output exceeded the expectations. The machine has now been implemented at Godrej Aerospace and the components for the new fully indigenous missiles are being manufactured in-house and have already been installed in the BrahMos articles.

KEY BENEFITS

• 0% rejection rate
• 100% Made in India & zero dependency on foreign countries
• Environmentally safe manufacturing process
• Ease of operations, State-of-the-art control panel with parameterization
• High levels of quality, safety, efficiency and reliability
• Multiple size geometries manufactured on a single machine
• Local support
• Exceeded client expectations
• Profitable to Indian Economy

WORLD RECOGNITION:

Recognizing FWT’s technology expertise and focus on stringent quality procedures, the world leader in friction welding technology – MTI – have now collaborated with FWT to manufacture friction welding machines for international market under the brand name of SPARTAN – The Tiny Giant.