The titanium and aluminum investment casting specialist TITAL meets the high NADCAP quality requirements with its special production processes while serving a global aerospace manufacturing marketplace. TITAL regularly completes five different certification processes for NADCAP (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) with very convincing results. This global testing and accreditation institution monitors the compliance of special production processes for well-known aerospace companies like Airbus, Boeing and Rolls Royce. Special processes are work steps in production and quality control where the technological and physical characteristics of the material are changed, but the changes can only be identified via special measurement and analyses. Companies that meet the high NADCAP standards and requirements are usually classified by the major aerospace manufactures as "strategic suppliers".

At the German company TITAL five of these "special processes" exist, all of them have been certified by NADCAP: Chemical Processing of aluminum and titanium investment castings, Heat Treating, Welding as well as Non-destructive Testing and Materials Testing Laboratory respectively. Furthermore the business processes at TITAL are all certified according to the standard EN / AS 9100 of the IAQG (International Aerospace Quality Group).

Berthold Busch, Head of Quality Management at TITAL, about the NADCAP certifications: "Worldwide a few casting companies like TITAL exist that only have to conduct the NADCAP audits at intervals of 18 or 24 months due to its extremely stable test results". NADCAP visits usually take place every 12 months. The prolonged audit cycles are granted by NADCAP when only minor deviations from the target value have been observed at a company during several subsequent audits.

During the audits which are carried out by one NADCAP staff member, only the strictest regulations are applied. Berthold Busch: "The tolerance margin is virtually zero. NADCAP does not have any interest in turning a blind eye."

With regard to chemical processing, the targeted modification of the part's surface with the aid of pickling, the NADCAP inspectors assess not only the exact fabrication of the pickling but also other parameters as temperature and chemical composition. For heat treatment, which has impacts on the mechanical characteristics of a part, the main focus is the temperature tolerance of the furnaces in space and time: in every corner of the heat treatment furnace the temperature has to be steady at 540 degrees Celsius or 1004 degrees Fahrenheit (aluminum) and 750 degrees Celsius or 1382 degrees Fahrenheit (titanium).

In order to repair surface defects of cast components TITAL uses the welding process. This process is also subject to NADCAP audits. In addition to the process sequence, the welding fillers/materials are also examined. The non-destructive testing of components is also done and follows specific NADCAP guidelines. This concerns the fluid penetrant inspection for crack test in order to evaluate the surface quality as well as x-ray in order to evaluate the internal component quality. Berthold Busch: "For this internal part examination the x-ray power and intensity has to be calculated very exactly as well as the exposure time and the choice of the correct x-ray films is also critical."

The test speed is a main factor for the destructive testing of material. During this process tensile specimens are being cut out of a cast component in order to prove mechanical characteristics such as solidity, elongation and density. The NADCAP inspectors place great value on the process being carried out within the given testing parameters.

The individual NADCAP audits usually take a week. Berthold Busch, Quality Management at TITAL: "The NADCAP inspections are really very demanding for all persons involved." But: "Of course, the certifications pay off in the long run. TITAL has very stable and robust processes and we are able to prove this every time." TITAL's customers can draw direct conclusions from the process quality to the product quality.