Scram Jet Project

HMG Hardchrome worked with the University of Queensland on the new Scram Jet Project. Scram Jets are air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet engines that could enable two hour flights from Sydney to London.

We built a specialised wind tunnel to test the effects of re-entry on materials and designs for the University’s advanced Scram Jet prototypes. The wind tunnel is more than 30 metres long and weighs over 25 tonnes. The tunnel does not use air but high pressurised, super heated helium to generate wind speeds of more than Mach 8, or 8000km/hour.

This project was a first for HMG Hardchrome. Not only was it outside our standard scope of works involving hydraulic cylinders, but it also broke several records for machining size and weight. At over 500mm internal diameter, it was the largest job ever machined, bored, and honed. The attaching thread is also the largest thread ever cut at the company.