Blacksmith For The Stars (1959)

[Music] forging is one of our oldest metalworking Arts the old method of heating metal to cherry red has been developed into an exacting science employing modern instruments and new metallurgical knowledge muscle power has been multiplied and is now measured in tons tons of force which pound or squeeze all kinds of metals into a multitude of shapes the development of modern Transportation has been furthered by advances in forging techniques in our conquest of the air forging knowledge and new kinds of forging equipment our providing components essential to efficient progress and now as we reach out into space we are more than ever dependent on knowledge of metals and the techniques for forging lighter and stronger materials new and unusual medals with new and unusual processes so that we may then become the blacksmith for the [Music] stars for over 75 years Wyman Gordon has pioneered in the forging industry experience knowledge and skill acquired since 1883 are combined with the latest in forging and scientific equipment to answer the forging problems of our Atomic and satellite age and to answer them today in 1946 Wyman Gordon began operation of an 18,000 ton press for the Air Force in their North graft and plant this was the first of America's heavy presses to play a leading role in light metal forgings for aircraft as the need for larger aircraft forgings became more evident this 35,000 ton press was put into operation in 1955 this equipment provided a great increase in our country's capability for larger stronger and more intricate aircraft components 6 months later even greater capability was provided in the 50,000 ton press these heavy presses were originally built to produce larger and more massive forgings of light alloy material increasing challenge came with the rapid growth of our missile program to withstand the shock and stress of takeoff and supersonic speeds the eroding fire of propellants and the incandescent heat of atmospheric re-entry required a new family of materials Wyman Gordon was ready with an extensive research and development program and with manufacturing capabilities and experience to accomplish the development of these new forgings of new materials many components are already being forged for some of our well-known and successful missile and space Vehicles this missile nose component of burum is but one others include this Dome forging of copper and a nose cone structure of magnesium components of aluminum and magnesium offer strength and lightweight for the support of missile guidance systems many high strength steel and titanium Alloys are being forged today for rocket motor cases such as these forward and half closures for solid propellent motors motor nozzle housings of titanium Alloys are forged to provide a high strength to weight ratio refractory Metals such as miminum and tungsten are forged for other nozzle applications liquid propellant tank parts such as this aluminum bowl are being currently forged as are the parts of this titanium pressure vessel turbine engine parts are forged in high strength nickel base Alloys such as this wheel of Rene 41 and this machined one of astaloy many other forgings are now being produced for the many missiles rockets and glide re-entry Vehicles successfully proved and under development and the list of metals includes magnesium brillium aluminum titanium zirconium steel copper columbium tantalum tungsten and other nuclear and space materials the ultimate product performance requires Partnership of EXP experienced forging Engineers with the product designers from the beginning of design activity Wyman Gordon Engineers together with the customer engineering Personnel study the geometry of this model section of the forward head on a rocket motor casing of a long range ballistic missile here they work backwards from the finished piece to the raw material which they will need to forge it they review together the performance required the metallurgical properties the tolerances the location of bosses the surface finish requirements and other essential characteristics of eventual design Machining requirements are studied in advance experienced forging Engineers must take into account the character of the forging processes as well as the end product requirements in order to provide the most effective forging design the forging die designer with his knowledge of metal deformation determines the forging steps required to produce the part as well as the most appropriate size and shape of the beginning raw stock specific D designs are worked out by development teams consisting of personnel from the laboratory engineering Forge shop and die shop all requirements of the job are considered such as forging temperatures and pressures for each op operation and the amount of heating required the engineers determined that this part would require two forging steps the first set of dyes perform a preliminary operation then a second set of dieses perform the finished forging providing a part which has all of the structural and metallurgical properties required material at the rim of the bowl is removed for testing purposes and the finished forging is machined to the required close tolerance when missile Engineers work with Wyman Gordon from the research and development stages through to the final production the best possible component can be produced taking into account design requirements material utilization producibility and total cost but to provide Dependable forgings many related activities must be tied together the laboratory constantly analyzes raw material to be certain it meets all specifications difficult performance specifications and the high cost of many of the new Metals being forged today require extensive testing of both raw material and finished forging spectrography is one method used used to determine the elements present in a material by burning a sample and analyzing the light emitted the direct reading spectrometer gives a permanent record of alloying or impurity elements in addition to a chemical analysis to determine metal content a sample is etched to check the macro structure of the cast Ingot or Billet stock macro etching proves the absence of Coler grain segregation of local areas of excessive alloying elements metals or non-metallics or paracity due to gas entrapped in the material these checks also help indicate how the material should be worked in preliminary operations to avoid internal rupturing or lapse during forging here again a macro ET sample from the finished forging helps to evaluate the success of the design in accomplishing the desired Metal Flow notice the concentration of grain flow lines in the area where maximum strength is desired the electron microscope is a metallurgical development tool used to study and evaluate the effects of processing variations on the structure of materials these electron micrographs of a titanium alloy with an original magnification of 12,500 Times show the structure and alignment of Aging precipitate this uniform fine randomly oriented precipitate IND indicates proper working and heat treatment while the raw material is being analyzed carefully worked out Dy designs are turned over to the Dy department where the forging dyes are made by the most economical method in some cases a numerical tape controlled machine is used for sinking the dyes dyes are also prepared by Electric discharge Machining electrochemical milling and other more common methods of metal removal now going on to actual manufacturer of the forging itself all the Planning by product designers and Wyman Gordon Engineers moves into the production stage the Billet of high strength alloy steel which has been thoroughly analyzed by the quality control laboratory is cut to appropriate size of raw material the muls of raw material are heated to Optimum forging temperature in carefully controlled gas fired furnaces next the raw material goes to one of the large presses for the first forging operation metallurgists and Engineers decided on two closed die forging operations for this part because of the large amount of material movement when larger production runs are forged Material Handling equipment is used to expedite the flow of work from furnaces to the presses after a dimensional spot check the piece is returned to the furnace for further heating for the finished forging operation in this operation material movement is completed so that all areas are filled and the final forging dimensions are achieved as the piece comes out of the press it is given a preliminary dimensional check after the forging has cooled and been cleaned it will be carefully inspected to be sure all geometrical relationships have been met that web and wall thickness have been maintained and that sufficient material is available for an integral test to attain the desired metal allergic and mechanical properties in the finished part each forging is subjected to a carefully controlled Heat Treating cycle Wyman Gordon maintains extensive facilities for the Machining of forgings in many cases Machining is necessary during various stages of the forging process to assure Optimum mechanical properties in other cases complete Machining is a service to the customer as well as a further guarantee of the finished Parts quality one of the Machining operations is the cutting off of the extra material which the engineers included for an integral test piece this will be cut up for tensil and stress rupture testing here the Machining of the Dome shaped Contours of this missile closure is accomplished by a duplicating machine a tracer follows the Contours of the model and controls the Milling cutter so as to reproduce the same Contour on the finished forging in this case a vertical boring Mill has been adapted to turn the Contours around the bosses the part is mounted on a rotating table and the cutting tool holder moves up and down controlled by a cam and roller the cam being designed to produce the desired Contours after Machining the parts are subjected to rigorous product inspection this is a VI gauge a direct reading ultrasonic resonance method of measuring wall thickness from one side the reflection of sound waves from the first surface is indicated on the screen by the blip on the left and the back surface reflection is indicated by the blip on the right the distance between the two is a measure of the thickness of the part the condition of the machine surfaces is also checked with a profometer to be sure the micro in Finish meets specifications many forgings are given a Sonic inspection to check internal soundness the part is immersed in water while ultrasonic waves are transmitted through the part if there are any mechanical discontinuities voids or inclusions within the forging they will change the pattern of the Waves reflected back to the screen many forging receive zyg glow inspection for possible surface defects the forgings are immersed in a fluorescent penetrant which Finds Its way into minute cracks or laps in the surface after the forgings have been washed and dried they are examined under ultraviolet light certain forgings are given a radiographic or x-ray examination Wyman Gordon is continually searching for new and better materials and techniques to meet the challenge of the Space Age one of the contributions of this program is the development of metallurgically sound uniform and stable materials a complete induction vacuum melt facility makes possible The Limited production of carefully controlled Alloys basic metals can be accurately combined to provide forging ingots of super strength Steels nickel base Cobalt base and and other heat resistant Alloys thus the research and development group can experimentally forge materials prepared to their own formulation and evaluate the results of using metals and Alloys that are otherwise unavailable our nation's success in the space age in overcoming the problems of stress and heat of launching and re-entry May well come from research effort such as this extensive effort is being expended to produce domes and closures of titanium Alloys by closed die forging the cryogenic properties of this material with its high strength to weight ratio provide reliable forgings which are resistant to corrosion and thermal shock alloy Steels offer high strength when forged into domes and closures for solid propellant motor casings or liquid propellant tanks the complex stresses of this type of closure call for a high strength to weight ratio forgings of these materials have proven reliability turban wheels for liquid propellant systems are another critical requirement successfully met with special nickel base Alloys these materials are continually being evaluated and have been successfully forged into turban wheels up to 50 in in diameter and into closures up to 65 in many other forging development programs are underway for other materials such as tungsten tantalum malinam and columbium this 1300lb Ingot of columbium is being pancak for forging into a bowl special Coatings are employed to insulate lubricate and prevent contamination during the forging process nozzle liners and throat inserts for rocket motor nozzle bodies are currently being Hammer forged of miminum experience is proving that forged components of refractory material such as this have outstanding reliability and resistance to erosion and thermal shock other manufacturing capabilities include ring rolling of various Alloys Wyman Gordon Equipment and Pur L cover a wide range of facilities and experience to produce the greatest number and largest variety of forgings for aircraft and missiles in its Worcester Massachusetts plant Wyman Gordon operates a wide variety of press and Hammer equipment at Harvey Illinois is a plant specializing in crankshafts with facilities to produce a variety of other forgings as well at North Grafton Massachusetts are 11 presses ranging from 600 to 50,000 tons in a facility built by the United States Air Force and operated by Wyman Gordon the combined capabilities experience and Facilities of the entire organization are available to produce missile components enclos dye and Hammer forgings from any workable metal our team of sales engineers metallurgists and product Engineers are available to help solve missile and vehicle problems from research and development stages through to the final Machining of components experience Knowledge and Skills of over 75 years as Pioneers in forging are combined to develop an ERS demands conquest of space as Wyman Gordon becomes the blacksmith for the [Music] Stars