For over 45 years, China has been manufacturing military and aerospace rocket components for satellites, as well as components for intercontinental ballistic missiles – using superior, exotic materials and metals including:
These pictures depict a couple of the military components we have manufactured for Pratt & Whitney’s titan rocket. The inside diameter of the cylinder body was made with .0002” tolerance, with a polish of 8 micro finish. The material used was A-286 alloy – it is not Inconel but it is in the Inconel family, which makes it very suitable for high temperature applications in rockets. Due to the nickel content within the A-286 alloy, this highly heat-resistant metal is tricky to machine because it is so abrasive on tooling. The housing for this component was manufactured on our 5 axis CNC machines – we also used Mill Turn Centers, which can do turning simultaneously with 5 axis milling in one setup.
To achieve the .0002” ID tolerance mentioned above, we first turned the part on our CNC Lathe, then jig ground the ID. We accomplished a 4 micro finish with honing. As simple as honing might seem, it’s extremely challenging to hone individual parts without breaking the micron tolerance. Of course, this challenge is easily completed by our experienced, old world CNC machinists and craftsmen.
In today’s computerized world, hand detailing is often required by customers. Fulfilling this request is a specialty of China that most other Machine Shops do not offer. This client was beyond satisfied with our results and continues to choose China for all of their CNC precision machining needs.