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RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon

RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon

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RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon
RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon

RETROCOURSE 2015 car show in Lyon

Friday, 27, November, 2015

The 4th edition of the Salon Race Retro, the only trade show devoted entirely to the competition of historical vehicles, was successfully held last week in Lyon (France). As in previous editions, it took place over three days, from Friday to Sunday, and took advantage of the beautiful facilities of Villefranche sur Saône Expo Park.

Ideally located on the main north / south, at the intersection of motorways from Paris, Barcelona, Geneva, Turin and the North highways from Germany, the site was a percect location to attract professionals and passionates in the field of the never ending growing historic motorsport.

The 4th Race Retro Salon hosted many exhibitors, all very involved in the VH and several exhibition areas.

it was remarkable the presence of Audi Quattro, through a presentation “Rally” mythical models, the Lancia Delta Integrale Gr.A, several mytique Porsches, F1’s and Le Mans’s prototypes.

The Fair Race Retro aimed also (and especially!) to bethe  great appointment year-end. Those who have already attended know that the atmosphere is particularly festive and friendly.

The 4th Race Retro Show was also an opportunity for many organizers to launch their 2016 season with many new features in all areaa, like the worldwide most famous Ice Circuit of Serre Chevalier, that it is working hard with its Sponsor TEKS and MOTUL to prepare a faboulous season of races and event.

The Milano Racing Lancia Delta Integrale 16V Gr.A in action in France

TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago

TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago

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TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago
TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago
TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago
TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago
TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago

TRAM 2014 worldwide conference at IMTS Chicago

Wednesday, 10, September, 2014

Dr. Nickolas Ridgway and Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante participated at the International Conference TRAM (Trend in Advanced Machining, Manufacturing and Materials) in Chicago at the IMTS 2014, the famous Machine Tool  and Robotic fear in USA. They presented a new approach on the manufacturing of high quality components for motorsport and aeronautic sector, based on a life cycle approach. This permits to achieve better, faster and less pollutant components with respect to the previous technologies. Some of the technologies and results were developed and tested in the European Funded Project REFORM, dealing with advanced composites materials.

 

TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield

TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield

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TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield
TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield
TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield
TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield
TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield

TRAM Conference 2009 – Sheffield

Invited Keynote lecture at TRAM 2009 worldwide Conference

Wednesday, 9, September, 2009

 New methodologies for development of high efficient Machining of difficult to cut materials

Authors:

Sergio Durante, Mauro Comoglio

1D4S Motorsport, Mar Adriatico 2, 38612 Granadilla de Abona, Spain, 

2DIAD , Str. Della Praia 12/C, I-10090 Buttigliera Alta (TO) Italy, 

In Sheffield at the AMRC with Boeing facilities, Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante presented a paper on high efficient machining.

The article and the keynote focuses on the automotive and aerospace industries. In these industries the need for enhanced materials performance is necessary if they are to remain competitive in global terms. Unfortunately the material properties, which make them so attractive to the aerospace and automotive industry can also make them difficult to machine. This paper will discuss integrated developments in machining techniques and cutting tools, which are emerging to cope with difficult to cut materials.

Introduction

Due to the increasingly competitive nature of the commercial aircraft and automotive markets, environmental issues and affordability are the prime market drivers.

In the aerospace sector, the implication of this is a market requirement for faster, cheaper, quieter aircraft. There is also a need to reduce operational costs by producing, more economical and reliable aircraft with an increased operating life. To meet these requirements the aircraft designers are producing larger, thinner complex (monolithic) parts, which can be assembled more easily without the recourse to jigs and fixtures. This is forcing manufacturers to consider using more exotic alloys, composites and mixed metal matrices, with a large impact on machining technology. Similar trends are occurring in the military aircraft sector where, in addition to affordability, stealth technology is forcing the use of new materials and design techniques.

In addition to the technological issues the aerospace industry is now moving towards the model of the automotive with the large OEMs concentrating on large system integration with component manufacture moving into the supply chain. This is having an impact as the companies now machining difficult to cut materials are unaware of the materials research being carried out at the OEM level and they can be faced with a machining problem on a material where they have little previous experience.

In the automotive sector new products now face stringent economic and environmental demands. In Europe emission legislation and the demands for higher performance from smaller engines have together driven the development of diesel engine technology over the past 10 years.

Invited keynote address speech at AIRTEC 2007

Invited keynote address speech at AIRTEC 2007

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Invited keynote address speech at AIRTEC 2007
Invited keynote address speech at AIRTEC 2007
Invited keynote address speech at AIRTEC 2007

Invited keynote address speech at AIRTEC 2007

Thursday, 8, November, 2007

Integrated development of high performance tools for efficient machining of difficult to cut materials in automotive and aerospace applications

Authors:

Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante – DIAD (IT)

Prof. Keith Ridgway – AMRC with Boeing

Dr. Eng. Mauro Comoglio – Centro Ricerche FIAT (IT)

On October 25th, Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante presented a Keynote Address in the Frankfurt AIRTEC2007 Plenary Session International Conference.

Airbus 380 – Courtesy of Airbus, Our Partner in the AFFIX Project:

Aligning, Holding and Fixing Flexible and Difficult to Handle Components

The speech focuses on the automotive, aerospace industries. In all these industries the need for enhanced materials performance is necessary if they are to remain competitive in global terms. The aerospace industry is currently under-going the changes originally experienced in the automotive industry with increasing acceptance that the OEMs are large system integrators and increasing use of sub-contractors.

This approach has a wide-ranging impact on future developments as the OEMs are pushing research down the supply chain. This creates the risk of creating a major discontinuity between the performance requirements of the OEMs and the manufacturing capabilities of the supply chain. As the OEMs require increasing performance it is essential that the supply chain have the manufacturing capability to cope with the enhanced material properties required.  This discontinuity is addressed in this proposal as new production processes will be developed to cope with the new materials and also the major design changes occurring in the industries considered.

The aerospace and automotive factories of the future will involve jig less assembly and more responsive manufacturing processes. 

This will include increased flexibility, including intelligent work-holding devises and fixtures, adaptive machining, active damping. These will be required to reduce manufacturing costs and increase the accuracy required for jig less assembly.

Al of these aspects have a major impact on machining tool.

Gala dinner FAST 2016

Gala dinner FAST 2016

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Gala dinner FAST 2016
Gala dinner FAST 2016
Gala dinner FAST 2016
Gala dinner FAST 2016

Gala dinner FAST 2016

Saturday 26 November 2016

In the astonishingly beautiful environment of the Mare Nostrum Resort of Playa de las Americas, in Spain, it was held the “Gala Solidario FAST”, which is the important gala dinner organised by the association of the entrepreneurs FAST.
The Forum of Friends of the South of Tenerife, formed by a group of people and groups, aims to dynamize from the social, cultural and tourist point of view the southern region of the island, through the organization of non-profit acts and for charitable purposes.

The event was a success with 700 participants, music, shows, including some international vedettes like Los Rios and Carmen Mota with her flamenco dancers.
The collected money (200.000 Euros) have been used to buy a new advanced rescue truck to the corp of firemen.


Pictures: Dr Hugo Ise, former President of Rotary Club, Dr. Teresa Ten, current President of the Rotary and Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante

Meeting with the Imperial College of London

Meeting with the Imperial College of London

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Meeting with the Imperial College of London
Meeting with the Imperial College of London
Meeting with the Imperial College of London
Meeting with the Imperial College of London
Meeting with the Imperial College of London

Meeting with the Imperial College of London

Tuesday, 13 September, 2016

In the always dynamic environment of London, it was held the meeting between Prof. Jianguo Lin, director of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Imperial College of London and Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante.
Some high tech industrial projects are already running between D4S Motorsport and this important UK institution. Target of the meeting was to explore future possible collaboration in the field of the advanced engineering, with a special attention to application of innovative manufacturing process for the production of a future generation of low-inertia powertrain components.

In the same days the meeting of the international project MMTECH was held at the Imperial College. This project relates with the setting up of a new concept of additive manufacturing process for aerospace components.

Industries, research centres and companies from UK, France, Italy and Spain are involved in this international collaboration.
MMTech will develop technologies and methodologies to process the gamma-Titanium material, which have the potential to save time and cost across the aircraft lifecycle (design, production, maintenance, overhaul, repair and retrofit), including certification aspects. It will target the integration of new and novel materials in aero-engine and aircraft structural components.

New materials for high temperature parts – MMTECH project

New materials for high temperature parts – MMTECH project

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New materials for high temperature parts – MMTECH project
New materials for high temperature parts – MMTECH project

New materials for high temperature parts – MMTECH project

Wednesday, 8 June, 2016

An MMTECH dissemination event at the famous race Cesana -Sestriere, in Italy, valid for the European Championship of Hill Climbing

New materials for high temperature parts – MMTECH project

D4S Motorsport is a core member of the Consortium MMTECH, a multinational coalition of enterprises focused on the development and application of a new generation of materials for high temperature applications (turbochargers, aerospace turbines, rockets).

The MMTech project is focusing on the development of technologies and methodologies which have the potential to save cost and time across the whole aircraft lifecycle, including design, production, maintenance, overhaul, repair and retrofit. It will investigate the steps needed to certify the new technologies for use on planes. The scientific target is based on the sustainable introduction of titanium aluminide alloys in the gamma phase, known as gamma titanium aluminides or γ-TiAl. 

This is a promising material for aerospace (but also high-end automotive) applications because is performs well at the high temperatures found in engines and is lighter than the nickel alloys which are currently in use. However, it is extremely brittle at low temperatures and so is hard to work with.

There are several bottlenecks to the general introduction of γ-TiAl in aerospace and automotive components. The various alloys are currently expensive and are hard to obtain, so machining large block of material is unattractive. Making parts using near-net techniques such a rapid manufacture (RM) uses less material, but comes with its own problems. Powder properties can vary across suppliers and even between batches, meaning that process parameters need to be set for each new build. Near net parts also need machining, but because γ-TiAl is brittle at low temperatures, it is extremely hard to finish-machine the components without producing cracks. MMTECH will develop methods of creating stable, consistent powder batches and investigate adaptive manufacturing techniques which can automatically vary deposition and machining parameters based on information gained during previous parts of the process chain. It will also look into ways of softening the material during processing using lasers to reduce cracking.

Specific advanced tools will be used for the new approach, based on integration of experimental testing and multi-scale modeling. Multi-scale modelling techniques will be applied to the manufacturing route to predict the inherent material properties of the γ-TiAl parts produced with RM and to optimise the laser-assisted machining process for high performance and high-quality production.

These goals will be achieved by meeting a number of technology challenges:

    •    The production of powders with stable physical properties

    •    The reduction of rapid manufacturing costs

    •    The improvement of machining processes

    •    The development of multi-scale models of the manufacturing process chain

Official project link:

http://mmtech-nology.com/default

Picture: one of the D4S Motorsport cars during the event.

This kind of broadcasted events are the best opportunities to tests and promote innovative solutions, at the same time.

Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong

Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong

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Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong
Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong
Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong
Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong

Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong In the fascinating environment of the always dynamic Hong Kong was held the first important meeting between the worldwide famous City University of Hong Kong, represented by Prof. Jian Lu, Executive Vice President of Research and Technology, and Dr. Sergio Durante, Executive Vice President of the multinational company D4S Group.

The topic of the meeting was focused on the future collaboration between the two institutions. The fields of interest discussed are mainly related to the application of advanced materials to the future mobility automotive sector, with a particular interest on a novel generation of energy absorbers, ultra high strength nano-structured metals and innovative surface engineering treatment.

The City University of Hong Kong, in the Department of Advanced Structural Materials sport a state of the art equipped laboratory and top level researchers.

The number and the quality of the publications permit the University to be ranked among the best-in-class worldwide.

More in details the Primary mission of the Centre for Advanced Structural Materials of Prof. Jian Lu is to develop a future generation of materials scientists, mechanics of materials researchers and design engineers to bring advance fundamentals and technologies in advanced structural materials.

Innovative solutions are created for different key industrial sectors, such as the biomedical, the automotive, the aerospace, and the sustainable energy.

The Centre’s objectives are to build a common research platform to attracts various members in the field of mechanics of advanced structural and functional material. Technology transfer is created by working with national and international leading companies; training top level multi-disciplinary researchers for the region; developing high value-added products to support economic developments of Hong Kong and the Pearl Delta Region.

The current major research areas are:

•    Prestressed engineering materials and devices

•    Advanced Bulk Metallic Glasses (BMGs) and Multicomponent Metallic Alloys

•    New Advanced Composites

•    Radiation Damage in Reactor Materials

•    Integration of advanced structural materials in product design

The new materials under development in the Prof. Jian Lu Centre for Advanced Structural Material, show high potential of application in the future electric and hybrid cars, that represent exactly the focus of the current business of D4S Motorsport The two organizations found a lot of complementarity points that will converge in the joint participations to both industrial and government high tech Asian and European projects, where the City University of Hong Kong will bring in the material technologies while D4S Motorsport will develop the manufacturing and extensive automotive testing of parts.

The modern architecture sport by the City University of Hong Kong, which is ranked one of the best universities Worldwide

Picture: Prof. Jian Lu, Executive Vice President of the Research & Technology at the City University of Hong Kong with Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante, Executive Vice President of the D4S Group. 
The Hong Kong University.

2016 Advanced Manufacturing Research Center Board Meeting held in Barcelona (ES)

2016 Advanced Manufacturing Research Center Board Meeting held in Barcelona (ES)

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barcelona-harbour-1000-1
barcelona-harbour-1000-1
2016 Advanced Manufacturing Research Center Board Meeting held in Barcelona (ES)
2016 Advanced Manufacturing Research Center Board Meeting held in Barcelona (ES)

2016 Advanced Manufacturing Research Center Board Meeting held in Barcelona (ES)

Thursday, 12, May, 2016

The first semester Board Meeting of the AMRC with Boeing was held at the beautiful Claris Hotel in Barcelona center, on Thursday 12 May.

Representatives of the biggest aerospace companies and their suppliers came from all the corner of the Earth.

Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce, Starrag Eckert, Messier Bugatti Dowty, BAE Systems, DELCAM, OSG, D4S Motorsport, MetsoftPro, Sandvik, Maegerle, Spirit Aerospace, KCT Group, DMG-Mori, McLaren, Renishaw, StarGB, Techicut, SECOTools top managers came from all over the world to join this important annual event.

The Board decided the new strategies for the next period, from the staff changing and restructuring, the UK regional development, the EU research joining, the development of the new centres in Singapore, Korea, Oregon and Virginia in USA, Australia,  Saudi Arabia.

As usual, in the evergreen spirit of the AMRC, this occasion was a fantastic opportunity to empower relationships and business opportunities. The organisation of the event was magisterially orchestrated by Professor Keith Ridgway and Dr. Adrian Allen, the brilliant founders of the AMRC.

The weekend in Barcelona offered several nice social events as the final of the Spanish Football League, the Bruce Springsteen concert and the Spanish Formula 1 Gran Prix.

Presentation of advanced engineering activities to the Rotary Club Board and meeting with local personalities

Presentation of advanced engineering activities to the Rotary Club Board and meeting with local personalities

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Presentation of advanced engineering activities to the Rotary Club Board and meeting with local personalities
Presentation of advanced engineering activities to the Rotary Club Board and meeting with local personalities

Presentation of advanced engineering activities to the Rotary Club Board and meeting with local personalities

Monday, 5, April, 2016 and 1st of May 2016

Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante made a presentation about the latest innovation in advanced materials and manufacturing technologies at the Board of the Rotary Club Tenerife  (Spain) on Monday the 5th April.

The presentation include some technical slides and videos and it was structured in two distinct parts, related to state of the art technologies and running research activities-

The first part of the presentation was focused on new carbon fibers manufacturing technologies developed in the  International Project REFORM. REFORM focuses on more resource-efficiency and cleaner manufacturing technologies for composite components to be exploited in different industrial sectors (e.g. Transport, Energy, Construction, ..). Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are becoming very popular as their use reduces weight and allow innovative designs for energy-saving products during service-life. The central idea of REFORM is to focus on the manufacturing processes of FRP components considering, with an holistic view, the whole manufacturing cycle. 

To this end the REFORM Consortium consists of 13 European organizations, with a record of excellence in their field of expertise, than can be grouped as follows:

– 7 high tech industrials: TEKS (France), D4S Motorsport, MACH4 and NOVA (Italy),  DVST and ModuleWorks (UK), Formtech (Sweden);

– 2 industry end users, namely ACCIONA (Spain) – a global leader in the civil infrastructure and AZIMUT, (Italy) a leading boat builder supplying luxury yachts

– 1 University: USFD  (UK)

– 3 research organizations: TECNALIA (Spain), IPT (Germany), SICOMP (Finland)

A spectacular video showed the tests carried out in Lapland  (Finland) to prove the mechanical performances of the composites in extreme weather conditions.

The second part of the presentation was related with some new innovative surface engineering treatments, currently under development in the international research project HIPPOCAMP. These coatings deposited on the surface of metal parts, like turbocompressor components or other powertrain parts, are able to reduce the wear and to damp the vibrations occurring in the  above mentioned  parts during the normal conditions of use. This permits longer compent life and better efficiency reducing the fuel consumption 

Further meetings followed:

  • • on Monday 1st May with the Italian Consul and the Mayor of Adeje
  • • on the 25th of May the Rotary Scholarship Award event at the University of La Laguna, in presence of the rector Antonio Martinson Cejas.

Picture: Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante with Dr. Guido Gianoli, President of the Rotary Club, in the beautiful environment of the H10 Hotel in Tenerife

From the left: Dr.SIlvio  Pelizzolo, Italian Onorary Consul,  José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga, Mayor of Adeje in Tenerife (ES) and Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante

From the left: Dr. Antonina Giacobbe, editor of the newspaper ViviTenerife, Prof. Jose Carlo Alberto, president of the Rotary Tenerife, Prof. Antonio Martinson Cejas, Rector of the La Laguna University, Dr. Guido Gianoli, President of the Rotary Tenerife Sur, and Dr. Sergio Durante

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