Innovate UK awards £1M to laser welding research consortium

According to Gary McDonald of the Irish News, aerospace company Hutchinson AeroTech (Antrim, Northern Ireland) is part of a consortium awarded more than £1 million ($1.28 million) from Innovate UK to fund a project to accelerate academic research in laser welding of titanium to help it bring new technology to the market.

In addition to Hutchinson, the consortium includes the Northern Ireland Technology Centre (NITC) at Queen's University Belfast, TWI (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (Coventry, West Midlands, England), and a number of other industrial organizations, including Leonardo Helicopters (previously AgustaWestland; Rome, Italy) and IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA).

The consortium will develop and demonstrate industrial welding of structural titanium to ensure that the UK is at the forefront of the aerospace industry. The consortium has been awarded £1.1 million, which will allow the partners to accelerate innovations in laser welding and promote its acceptance in the aerospace marketplace.

For more information, please visit www.hutchinson-aerotech.com.