JuLy 2015 19 approach to research and global talent development, bringing together technical expertise from around the world to solve technological challenges—and ultimately to make Boeing more competitive, said Bill Lyons, director of Global Research and Development Strategy for Boeing Research & Technology. “If you want products and services to excel, you have to involve others, and you have to embrace diversity of thought and culture,” Lyons said. “For us to be successful in the next century we need to explore the talent, development and ideas that come from across the globe.” The research centers are in five U.S. states and six international sites. Each has different specialties and develops relationships with partners, such as universities. Researchers at each center are responsible for identifying what the technologies of the future could be—as far as 30 years out. One of these technologies is incremental sheet forming. Generally, to create a metal part for a product, a die is formed in the shape of the part. Metal is molded around the die. This works well for an aircraft in production, but not necessarily for parts that are rare or old. Stored parts take up valuable space in warehouses and may be located in another part of the world from where they are needed. India If a part cannot be located, the die must be found to make a new one. And making a new die is an expensive task. Ultimately, these issues delay an aircraft's return to service. With incremental sheet forming, instead of using a die a sheet of metal is carefully held along the edges, as two pointed styli apply pressure from either Photos: (Above) Professor N. Venkata Reddy, left, of the Indian Institute of Technology– Hyderabad and Om Prakash of Boeing examine a thermoplastic system. (Far left) Nieves Lapeña-Rey, left, and Wouter Grouve, deputy chief technology officer of the Thermoplastics Composite Research Center, perform mechanical tests. ASSOCIATE D PRESS
Frontiers July 2015 Issue
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