Big, round, tasteless things from Wisconsin aren't necessarily
cheese. Ladish Company's forging division in Cudahy, Wisconsin,
is marking 20 years of highly specialized hot isostatic pressing
(HIP) of jet engine turbine disks, and claims that its 10,000-ton
isothermal press is still the largest of its type in the world.
It was upgraded in 2002 and produces disks for both military and
commercial engines, for all three major engine manufacturers.
HIP disks are formed under high temperature and pressure from
metal powder, producing high-quality alloy components that can
tolerate greater stresses and temperatures than materials produced
by other processes. They were first used to extend the lifetime
of fighter-engine turbines and were a key element of high-thrust
1980s engines such as the F110-GE-100 and F100-PW-220. HIP disks
were also used to solve a turbine failure problem on the early
GE F404.
