Major industrial partner joins IMPRESS Project
International precision engineering group, Doncasters, has become the latest major industrial partner to join the IMPRESS Integrated Project - a pan-European project to investigate the materials processing, structure and properties of new higher-performance intermetallic alloys.
The 5-year IMPRESS Project, which is managed by ESA, brings together the academic and industrial expertise of 42 research groups and companies and involves 160 leading experts from 15 countries.
A unique component of IMPRESS is the experimentation in space, such as on board sounding rockets and the International Space Station. These benchmark experiments are expected to provide critical information about the material properties of a special class of alloys, known as intermetallics. The scientific results of the IMPRESS Project will have industrial applications in the development of next-generation turbine blades and catalytic powders.
Doncasters is one of the major turbine blade producers for aerospace and power generation industries with an excellent track record of working with alloys and metals that are difficult to shape and form. Their particular involvement in IMPRESS will be in the area of investment-casting of titanium aluminides.
Dr. David Jarvis, ESA's IMPRESS Project Manager, said, "We are very proud to have the industrial know-how and commitment of the Doncasters Group and the company's inclusion within IMPRESS adds tremendous strength to the project. Doncasters' work represents the first serious attempt worldwide to scale up the casting process to an industrial level, and we are confident that world-class results will follow."
The IMPRESS Project is a joint venture between the European Commission and ESA, within the European Union Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).
