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
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
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
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)
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
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
D4S Motorsport carried out some reference tests for the Hippocamp technology
Wednesday, 30, March, 2016 – Pavia (IT)
D4S Motorsport is setting up new technologies to be applied to turbocompressor parts and gearboxes for racing and tourism cars.
In fact the 2016 will be definitely the year of the tests for advanced components for the cooling system and advanced surface engineering for these kind of components.
As already mentioned in another press release, in the project MICROFAST D4S Motorsport is developing a revolutionary ultralight titanium water pump to keep the racing engine at super-stable temperature even in extreme and/or fast variable weather conditions.
At the same time new advanced low friction and passive damping coatings are under development in the international project named HIPPOCAMP. The turboicompressor shaft and the transmission parts are under testing in the extreme conditions of the race to measure the performance gain in comparison with several more traditional solutions.
It is the first time that D4S Motorsport is applying F1 and Le Mans Series technologies into the Karting races.
As it happened last year, Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante will be the chief test driver for both the technologies and he will personally participate to the World Championship 2016 that will be held in Sweden on the next September to prove the technologies on the real field.
Sergio Durante with Cristiano Cedrino and Mauro Comoglio with the D4S Motorsport Porsche Proto ready for the Hippocamp Technology tests.
D4S Motorsport is preparing the 2016 kart season: new advanced technology for gearboxes.
Friday, 19, February, 2016 – Helsinki
D4S Motorsport is setting up new technologies to be applied to racing gearboxes for KZ karts.
In fact the 2016 will be definitely the year of the tests for advanced components for the cooling system and advanced surface engineering for the gear sets.
In the project MICROFAST Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante is developing a revolutionary ultralight titanium water pump to keep the racing engine at super-stable temperature even in extreme and/or fast variable weather conditions.
At the same time new advanced low friction and passive damping coatings are under development in the international project named HIPPOCAMP. The transmission parts will be tested in the extreme conditions of the race to measure the performance gain in comparison with several more traditional solutions.
It is the first time that Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante is applying F1 and Le Mans Series technologies into the Karting races.
As it happened last year, Sergio Durante will be the test driver in the World Championship 2016 that will be held in Sweden on the next September and in Bahrain on November.
Advanced testing and driving experience in Lapland at IceAction with Armin Schwarz
Sunday, 31, January, 2016
As it happens since some years, also this february we will go in Lapland to carry out some automotive tests and races on the beatiful landscape of Finland.
The location is Levi, a famous winter holidays spot, very close to the Kittila airport where our friends Armin Schwarz and Mark Wallenwein are running their famous rally training courses.
The Subaru Ice & Action was founded in 2010 and powered by Wallenwein Rallye Sport and Armin Schwarz. Benefit from the longtime experience of the two famous rally drivers instructors the attendees can improve their driving skills with a lot of fun and plenty of drifts!
Ice Series in Breuil Cervinia (Italy) suspended for high risk of avalanches
Sunday, 31, January, 2016
The long-awaited race planned in Cervinia for this weekend has been suspended by the local authorities for high risk of avalanches.
On Saturday, the day started with a beautiful sun in a blue sky, but, during the afternoon, a big storm from West hit the Cervino areas and started the snowfall.
The heavy snowfall lasted for all the night and the following morning, making on the ground more than one meter of snow.
The Organising Committe did their best to prepare the track in a very extreme weather condition, but the risk of avalanche reached the maximum level (number 5) during the Sunday morning. The Police and the local authorithies decided to not take such a great risk and evacuated the area.
The Ice Series Circus accepted the decision and the Championship is postponed to the next event.