A VISIT TO KINECO KAMAN !
We, the students of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School visited the Kineco Kaman Industries on 15th June ‘ 16. The factory which currently manufactures composite material for the defence and aerospace sectors, is located at Pilerne Industrial estate.
We reached the premises at 9.40 am. The huge and beautiful factory building left us all in awe. While they got ready to show us around, we took a look at the huge display of the past and current projects undertaken by Kineco Kaman. The HAL Tejas and ALH ( advanced light helicopter) projects were some of the projects which used the composite products manufactured by Kineco.
We were assisted by three representatives from the company who explained to us in depth about the various machines and manufacturing processes. Initially, they showed us a shell of a professional race car which they had built for a European company, and also the frame of a professional bicycle made out of carbon composite material. Next we were shown the manufacturing of composites for the Boeing Poseidon P – 8, which encaptured us in fascination! After this, we were shown the manufacturing of composites for HAL’s Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) project, we were lucky enough to even get a glimpse of the raw material used ( two layers of carbon fibre with a layer of Kevlar in between). It was amazing to learn how such soft material can become a hard composite.
Next, we visited the shop floor. This is where processing takes place. The material is kept in a frozen storage room or area at around -20 degrees C until it is actually used. The material is mostly imported and we were all intrigued to find out that the material is transported also at the such a low temperature and even a slight drop or increase can hamper the shelf life of the material. We were amazed at the fact that, at Kineco there is absolutely no compromise on the quality of the product they offer. My friends and me were really curious to know about the mammoth sized machine before us – The autoclave, and this is where the composite material is cured with high pressure and temperature. There was an oven which does curing too only with a difference that there is no pressure involved. Next we were shown the machine which does the job of fine cutting of the cured composite components.
Apart from this, we also learnt from our guide about the quality control process and testing of manufactured products at Kineco. Kineco follows two methods, Destructive and Non Destructive. The specimen coupons are used for destructive testing. And we were actually fortunate enough to see a non destructive evaluation in which the structure is checked for defects by using a hand help device which transmits and receives ultrasonic sound waves.
As a student and on behalf of my friends who accompanied me for this field trip, I would like to say that I am grateful to Kineco Kaman for inviting us and allowing us to visit their factory and also our Director, Mr. Vyankatesh Prabhudesai for giving us this opportunity to help us understand and have an hands on experience to knowing the field we want to choose in future.
-Prepared by Kaivalya Karkare
( STD XII student 2016 – 17 Batch)