Innoval Technology Ltd - World-Class Aluminium Product and Process Expertise in Banbury, UK

On this page we'll keep you up-to-date with our involvement in the BLOODHOUND Project.

21st October 2011, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, UK

The BLOODHOUND team, including Richard Noble, spent the morning giving everyone a project update. As part of this, we learnt that BLOODHOUND SSC must be completed by December 2012 for the first round of testing. We were also introduced to Cisco BHTV - a series of short video updates about the project. You can watch them here.

In the afternoon the delegates split into groups for a series of discussions about engineering issues, the education programme, media and sponsorship.

8th September 2011, Banbury, UK

The engineers at BLOODHOUND are close to making the final decision about

which alloy to manufacture BLOODHOUND's wheels from, so their Supply Chain Manager, Conor La Grue, visited us to discuss various options for the supply of aluminium.

Because we're an independent consultancy, we have a lot of contacts within the aluminium industry so we were able to advise Conor on who to approach. We're also hoping to support Conor with technical advice when the supply chain meetings commence.

The picture shows Geoff Scamans from Innoval Technology and BLOODHOUND's Conor La Grue.

17th June 2011, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

The latest Sponsors Event brought everyone up-to-date on BLOODHOUND's progress.

Amongst other things, the Project Update

showed the first components to be manufactured, as well as reporting on the progress of the site preparation in Hakskeen Pan, South Africa. An Engineering Update included the impact trials on the potential wheel material, as explained here in previous posts, and the Education Update explained the impact BLOODHOUND is having on schools, colleges and universities.

The preparation of the run site is well underway in South Africa, as can be seen in this picture.

11th March 2011, Banbury, UK

Following the meeting at Lockheed Martin UK, we conducted a more detailed metallurgical investigation of the impact regions. This was to determine if any microstructural differences between the two materials could be observed after impact, and whether this could be used to rank the materials.

We used optical metallography to examine the projectile impact area to look for evidence of micro-cracking, and conducted Vickers microhardness (Hv) measurements to assess the extent of deformation hardening in the impact area.

In the region of projectile impact, there was some tearing of the aluminium surface,
but no significant cracks were found. The subsurface region was hardened by around 5-10% to a depth of about 1mm below the impact crater.

There were no significant differences between the behaviour of the two aluminium materials (AA7075-T651 and AA2014A-T651).

This image is of aluminium alloy 7075-T651 taken from near the centre of the spherical projectile impact.

17th November 2010, Lockheed Martin UK, Ampthill

The team at Lockheed Martin UK kindly invited us, together with Brian Coombs from BLOODHOUND's engineering team, to their facility at Ampthill to discuss the results of the recent gas-gun trials undertaken at the Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge).

The trials investigated the damage introduced by the impact of rock cuboids and ceramic spheres, at approximately 1000 mph, on two wrought aluminium alloys (AA2014 and AA7075). The irregular rock cuboids were manufactured by Lockheed Martin from material recovered from the Hakskeen Pan test site. It is hoped that the results from these trials, together with some simulation studies, will help the team decide from which alloy to manufacture BLOODHOUND's wheels.

Ten experiments were conducted, five on each aluminium alloy. No sub-surface damage was identified in any of the recovered samples, which suggests that both aluminium alloys responded to impact by plastic flow only. However, to be conclusive a more detailed metallographic analysis is necessary, and we have taken several of the worst-affected samples back to Innoval's test labs for further analysis.

During the meeting we also discussed how the wheel could be manufactured having reviewed the Lockheed Martin preferred design solution.

The image above shows an optical microscope image of an aluminium plate from one of the impact damage trials.

4th October 2010, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

The purpose of this event was to update the project sponsors on the progress of the BLOODHOUND car. As well as hearing updates from the Engineering team and the Education team, we also got the chance to see the 1:1 scale show car: the result of three years of painstaking aerodynamic study and ten exhaustive design evolutions.

As you can see from the photograph, the design of the wheels has been finalised. However, we are still awaiting the results from the gas-gun trials before a decision can be made as to which alloy to make them from.

The photo on the left shows Dr Tom Farley with Richard Noble, the BLOODHOUND Project Director, at the Project Sponsors Event.

19th July 2010, Farnborough, UK

The final design of the BLOODHOUND car has been unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow (19-25 July 2010). We thought you'd be interested to see what we're working towards so, in the link below, you'll find Wing Commander Andy Green leading a tour of the full-size, full-length model of BLOODHOUND SSC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10679543

26th February 2010, Banbury, UK

Steve Burnage and Graham Flawn from Lockheed Martin joined BLOODHOUND's John Piper and Conor La Grue for a meeting at Innoval to discuss the wheel material. As mentioned below, there are two alloys of choice (AA2014 and AA7075) and we're helping the team at Lockheed Martin, who are designing the wheels, to decide which one to use.

Following an update on the wheel design from Steve and Graham, the team discussed the technical specifications of both alloys. The next step is to assess impact resistance by firing particles of material from the run site (Hakskeen Pan, South Africa) at very high speeds at samples of the two alloys.

Lockheed Martin will be overseeing the testing, which will be done at the University of Kent, and we will be on hand to discuss the results. Once the tests are complete, we should be able to make a decision as to which alloy to choose.

Left to right: Gary Mahon, Graham Flawn, John Piper, Conor La Grue, Steve Burnage & Geoff Scamans discuss the wheel material.

11th December 2009, Banbury, UK

We were delighted to welcome BLOODHOUND's Engineering Director, John Piper and Supply Chain Manager, Conor La Grue to Innoval's offices in Banbury to meet the team who will be contributing to the BLOODHOUND project. Geoff Scamans and Gary Mahon have offered their expertise in aluminium metallurgy, whilst Tom Farley offers his mathematical modelling skills.

During the meeting the team discussed which of the car's parts could be manufactured from aluminium, paying particular attention to its wheels.

There was some discussion as to whether AA2014 or AA7075 would be the alloy of choice, and whether either could be derived from secondary sources. Both the BLOODHOUND team and Geoff (our aluminium recycling 'guru') are keen to incorporate as much recycled material into the car as possible. However, before the team explores this further, we must be absolutely certain about the technical capabilities of the chosen alloy.

The photo shows Gary, Tom, Geoff, John and Conor

24th November 2009, BLOODHOUND Technical Centre, Bristol, UK

This was a 'Media Event' intended to update the press on the latest project developments, as well as unveil the new 'home' of BLOODHOUND at the Great Western Dockyard in Bristol. The Technical Centre is located next to another engineering marvel, Brunel's SS Great Britain.

Several Product Sponsors gave presentations on their involvement with the project, including Lockheed Martin who are designing the wheels. At the moment there is some debate as to whether the wheels should be made from aluminium or titanium. This is one of the areas where Innoval's expertise may be useful.

Tim Smith, Editor of Aluminium International Today, was at this event so watch out for his report in a future issue of the magazine.

23rd November 2009, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

This was a 'Product Sponsors Event' and our first involvement with BLOODHOUND since their Supply Chain Manager, Conor La Grue, came to visit us several weeks ago in Banbury.

It was a great opportunity for us to meet the BLOODHOUND engineering team, as well as the other sponsors involved in this exciting project. Following Education and Engineering updates from the team, Andy Green (BLOODHOUND's pilot) announced the location of the run site: Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape Province, South Africa.

The photo shows Innoval's Managing Director, Dr. Tom Farley, with Andy Green in front of a full-scale model of the car