Straaltechniek International in the Netherlands is a renowned manufacturer of surface cleaning machines. Besides its Shot Peening Division, which is known worldwide, the roots of the company are based on experience gained from surface cleaning machines.

The Dutch company has a long history in design, development and delivery of shot blasting and shot peening machines. As a result of the high quality of its machines the aerospace industry has been a regular customer since the mid 80s for shot peening machines. The industry for surface cleaning and/or surface preparation however has been served   since the late 50’s.

For this reason lots of end users decide to rely on the expertise of Straaltechniek International and in this way they were able to build a huge reference list in the different industries in surface treatment, like:

Industrial subcontracting for surface preparation
Marine industry for shipbuilding and ship repair
Aerospace industry

As a result from the experience gained from all industrial fields, Straaltechniek International moved more towards high end applications for shot blasting and shotpeening, which leads to the delivery of several automated and/or semi-automated shot blasting and shot peening machines for cleaning and/or peening.

In the field of shotpeening, Straaltechniek International has been able to acquire a strong position in shotpeening of landing gears. Due to the long-term business relation with Messier-Dowty, the global market leader in landing gear manufacturing, the Dutch company has successfully delivered several machines directly to Messier-Dowty, but also several machines to contractors for Messier-Dowty.

Currently the Chinese operation of Messier-Dowty has one robotic shotpeening machine in use since 2002 and 2 more Straaltechniek International machines will be put into operation before mid August 2007.

Beside the 3 robotic shotpeening machines, a hybrid-peening machine was also installed at Messier-Dowty by Straaltechniek International in 1999. This hybrid-peening machine is the first hybrid-peening machine globally, where a combination of wheel peening and compressed air peening is created and where centrifugal force is used to accelerate the shot, to peen the external surfaces of the landing gears and where an air-driven system is accelerating the shot for internal peening of the holes and bores.

Messier-Dowty has equipped over 20.000 aircrafts with a landing gear system and every 2.5 seconds a landing takes place with their manufactured landing gears.
 
With a portfolio of over 90 aircraft programs, Messier-Dowty has unrivaled capability to design, develop and test landing gear solutions for any type of aircraft. Messier-Dowty’s engineering expertise begins with concept and design through to analysis, performance, testing, reliability and systems integration. With a worldwide staff of over 400 engineers, customers benefit from the most advanced CATIA and analysis software available today and best practices such as concurrent engineering.

To meet the demanding requirements of Messier-Dowty Straaltechniek International invested in advanced 3D-modelling software programs. With the efforts of the advanced 3D-modelling software the Dutch company was able to design at a very high level of accuracy, thus minimizing potential risks and mistakes.

The 3D-model of the proposed machine also gave the customer a perfect impression of the actual delivery, as the models show a highly realistic view of the machine and its components.

Also 3D-modelling software can be used for pre-programming the robots, thus saving essential time during programming and acceptance stages of the project.

New Surface Treatments

Messier-Dowty is currently involved in an industry-wide development of new technologies to replace cadmium and chrome plating with alternative surface treatments. Cadmium is used on various landing gear components to provide protection against corrosion and chrome is used in contact areas to improve friction/wear properties.
In the area of hard chrome replacement, one of Messier-Dowty’s most important initiatives has been the progressive implementation of an HVOF (High Velocity Oxygen Fuel) process. This process uses metal ceramic powder sprayed at very high speeds (3000km/h) onto landing gear components, where it consolidates to form a coating resistant to wear and reducing friction. This process is environmentally friendly, eliminating the use of hexavalent chromium products found in the hard chrome plate process. Messier-Dowty currently employs HVOF on several production programs, including the A380 nose landing gear and the Dassault Falcon 7X landing gear.

In the area of cadmium, Messier-Dowty is currently studying two methods of replacement. The first method involves replacing cadmium with a more environmentally-friendly coating. The second avenue of development involves using materials for certain components that are inherently corrosion-resistant, such as stainless steel or titanium. Messier-Dowty is collaborating with Aubert & Duval on this subject, with the active support of the French DPAC.

Shotpeening

Shotpeening has always been a key-process in the complete manufacturing process for landing gears. For both the Ultra High Strength Steels and the aluminum alloys shotpeening is applied to external and internal surfaces.

For the UHSS-landing gears metallic shot is used, whereas for the aluminum-alloys landing gears non-metallic shot is used.
Due to the complex geometry of the components, the demand and requirements for the nozzle manipulation is defined as highly complex. Straaltechniek International has been able to design and deliver robotic shotpeening machines for the metallic as well as for non-metallic peening application and with the delivered machines Straaltechniek International has proved that they can supply a successful solution for the full range of medium to large sized landing gears.

For Information:
STRAALTECHNIEK INTERNATIONAL BV
P.O. Box 65, 3300 AB
Bunsenstraat 1, 3316 GC
Dordrecht, The Netherlands
Tel. +31-78-6511477
Fax: +31-78-6511401
E-mail: info@straaltechniek.net
www.straaltechniek.net

Contact:
Marco Klijsen, International Sales Manager