To date, the most important R&D project we have participated in—through a partnership with the Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences—was a project co-financed by the European Union under the Smart Growth Operational Programme 2014–2020, titled: “Ultra-durable fasteners with extended service life for the transport, mining, and medical industries.”
This research and development project was carried out between 2016 and 2020, and its direct outcome was the production of a series of fasteners made from lightweight materials such as titanium and aluminum alloys.
As part of the project, our company was responsible for the implementation and manufacturing phase of lightweight, high-strength fasteners designed for use in the following industries:
- Transport
- Aerospace
- Structural (with a primary focus on offshore applications)
- Medical
- Construction
The result of the project was the development of a new generation of high-strength fasteners—large-sized and with extended operational durability—made from heavily strengthened aluminum and titanium alloys for high-load applications.
Material strengthening was achieved through severe plastic deformation using high-pressure techniques such as hydrostatic extrusion and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP).
More information about the project is available on the IWC PAN website: http://hydroextrusion.pl/assets/strona-www-nanofix.pdf