IBC Engineered Materials has a new contract to supply Beralcast® investment castings to UTC Aerospace Systems as components of “critical imaging systems” for military aircraft. The value of the contract was not reported, but IBC noted the first deliveries will be made before June 30.
Beralcast is a proprietary beryllium-aluminum alloy used in numerous aerospace applications for its lightweight and high-modulus characteristics. IBC states the alloys are “three times stiffer and weigh 22% less than aluminum,” and can be an alternative for aluminum, magnesium, titanium, metal-matrix composites, pure beryllium, or powder metallurgy beryllium-aluminum materials – according to component design considerations.
IBC-EM is an operating unit of Vancouver-based IBC Advanced Alloys Corp., which manufactures beryllium-based alloys and related products to aerospace, nuclear energy, automotive, telecom, and other industries. It announced a similar deal in late March to supply Kaman Corp. critical imaging system components for U.S. naval and foreign military tactical aircraft.
The castings are produced at IBC Engineered Materials’ Wilmington, MA, investment casting foundry. That operation’s most notable product to-date has been a series of Beralcast parts for the electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
"IBC is a leader in the casting of high-performance optical targeting systems where weight savings and high modulus are critical performance factors," explained IBC Engineered Materials’ president Ray White. "Our Beralcast castable alloys are ideally suited to precision aerospace applications and can uniquely offer contractors cost effective solutions compared to machined components.”
UTC Aerospace Systems is a designer/manufacturer of integrated systems and components for aerospace and defense markets. Along with Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft, it is a business unit of United Technologies Corp. UTC Aircraft products include air management systems, electric systems, wheels and brakes, landing gear, actuation and propeller systems, aerostructures, sensors, and many others.