Castings from the MetalTek family of companies have been used in defense applications since the 1950’s. From an early sway brace casting supplied for the B-29 bomber to today’s highly-engineered missile fin investment castings, MetalTek has been a key casting supplier for mission critical defense programs. Submarines, aircraft carriers, helicopters, and missile launchers all take advantage of the quality and integrity of MetalTek and its products
The MetalTek Team provides the technical, manufacturing and sales know how to meet your needs:
Solution—Clutch Winch Drum Assembly
Naval supply replenishment vessels transfer equipment and supplies to military ships in service, while allowing for the relative motion of the ships. They employ high horsepower continuous slip air clutches to control the tension of connecting cables between the ships. But the drums became unreliable and subject to significant wear when the change to non-asbestos brake material was implemented. MetalTek pioneered the development of a Metal Matrix Composite centrifugally cast material for use in the friction drums. The MMC material used in the drum application virtually eliminated corrosion and drum wear, and reduced hourly operating cost by 90%.
Solution—Controllable Pitch Propeller Hub
A large and highly engineered hub housing for Naval propellers was historically a fabricated part with considerable welding and finished machining operations required. MetalTek produced a machined one-piece centrifugal casting, one of the most complex ever made, which eliminated weld defects, and flaws discovered after finish machining.
Solution— Missile fins produced as investment castings
Early missile fins for the Army Tactical Missile Systems were expensive fabrications with long lead times. MetalTek’s Wisconsin Investcast facility now produces the missile fin from an investment casting in a very thin wall, tight tolerance, high strength stainless steel configuration for this critical defense application. Cost savings and a one-piece construction make this a successful product for our customer.
Typical products
Launcher components
Missile fins
Missile components
Valve and pump housings
Propeller shaft sleeves
Controllable pitch propeller hubs
Clutch winch drum assembly
Hatch Rings
Seal Housings
Shaft Sleeves
Typical applications
Turbine heat exchangers
Airforce loading system
Mobile missile launchers
Missiles / Bombs
Bomb racks
Fliud Handling
Submarine propulsion
Destroyer propulsion
Aircraft carrier propulsion
Inter-ship material transfer
