Group Rhodes 将在 Advanced Engineering 2026 展示航空航天热成形与复合材料压机
Group Rhodes showcases aerospace forming at Advanced Engineering
Group Rhodes 旗下 Rhodes Interform 部门将在伯明翰举行的 Advanced Engineering 2026 展会（展位 Q150）展示其面向金属与复合材料的先进热成形和冷成形设备，重点包括超塑成形（SPF/DB）与定制复合材料压机，用于轻量化、飞行关键航空航天结构件。公司提供从热压板压机（热固性与热塑性复合材料零件）到大吨位液压压机（金属成形）的系列产品，可加工先进复合材料、钛合金和铝合金。其工程团队近期交付了一份数百万英镑合同，涉及三台定制液压压机的设计、制造与调试，用于生产轻型航空结构所需的高技术复合材料零件；每台设备按特定生产节拍设计，配备自动化机器人上下料和配方驱动的 HMI 控制，实现交钥匙集成。
metalworkingmag.com
26 {{ "2026-10-26T00:00:00+00:00" | date "MMM" }} '26
Written on {{ "2026-10-26T00:00:00+00:00" | date "longDate" }} Modified on {{ "2026-10-26T00:00:00+00:00" | date "longDate" }}
The company will highlight superplastic forming and bespoke composite presses for lightweight flight-critical aero structures.
www.rhodesinterform.co.uk
Group Rhodes, through its Rhodes Interform division, will exhibit its advanced hot and cold forming machinery for metals and composites at the Advanced Engineering 2026 show in Birmingham (Stand Q150). As the aerospace sector faces continuous pressure to reduce aircraft weight to improve fuel efficiency and increase payload capacities, the Wakefield-based manufacturer provides bespoke press solutions designed to produce lighter, stronger, and highly complex components from advanced composites, titanium, and aluminum alloys.
Automating bespoke composite and metal forming
At the event, the company will showcase its extensive portfolio, ranging from heated platen presses for thermoset and thermoplastic composite parts to high-tonnage hydraulic presses for metal forming. The engineering team recently delivered on a multi-million-pound contract involving the design, build, and commissioning of three bespoke hydraulic presses tailored for manufacturing high-tech composite components used in light aero structures. Each machine is engineered around specific production rates, featuring automated robotic handling and recipe-driven Human-Machine Interface (HMI) controls for seamless turnkey integration.
Additional Context: The mechanics of Superplastic Forming and Diffusion Bonding (SPF/DB)
This section details metallurgical processes and structural benefits not included in the original press release.
Superplastic Forming and Diffusion Bonding (SPF/DB) is a highly specialized manufacturing technique predominantly used for titanium alloys, such as Ti-6Al-4V, in the aerospace sector. At extreme temperatures (typically around 900°C), certain fine-grained alloys exhibit "superplasticity," allowing them to stretch extensively without necking, tearing, or failing. During this state, inert argon gas pressure forces the heated metal sheets into a complex die cavity. Concurrently, Diffusion Bonding occurs when multiple sheets are pressed together at these elevated temperatures, causing atoms to diffuse across the joint interface and fuse the materials at a molecular level. This eliminates the need for heavy mechanical fasteners, rivets, adhesives, or traditional welding, resulting in a single, seamless, hollow structure. SPF/DB drastically reduces the overall part count, assembly time, and structural weight while maximizing the fatigue resistance and aerodynamic integrity of flight-critical components.
Edited by an industrial journalist, Lekshman Ramdas, with AI assistance.
www.rhodesinterform.com
来源：Metalworking International · metalworkingmag.com