Brenco Aerospace Pty Ltd, a major division of the Brenco group of companies, is involved in the repair and maintenance of jet aircraft engines and landing gear components of turbine-powered aircraft. Through a major plant in Melbourne, Brenco Aerospace manages the entire engine repair cycle for customers.

Brenco’s involvement with Australian aviation dates back to 1965, when the first domestic jet fleets were introduced into Australia by Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA), later Australian Airlines before its acquisition by Qantas.

Brenco set up engine repair and maintenance facilities, initially using a process called ‘plasma spray” which was developed out of the NASA program in the early 1960’s. This technology uses an ionised gas (a plasma), reaching temperatures of 16,500 °C with an inert flame capable of melting all refractory materials.Once the consumable material has passed through the plasma process, the resulting coating is cold so as not to distort the mechanical or chemical structure of the coated part.

Technology used by Brenco encompasses other thermal processes including the hard chrome replacement of High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) whereby hard carbide-based materials are propelled at high velocity (MKIII) to engine and landing gear components.

Building on its long experience with the relevant technology, Brenco Aerospace recently received approval to carry out repairs to jet engine components on Rolls Royce power plants.Included in this approval is repair process activity and through-life engine support on the Adour Mk 871 jet engine fitted to the RAAF’s Hawk lead-in fighter, in cooperation with the propulsion unit of Qantas Defence Services.

Other repair and maintenance procedures provided by Brenco through its fully equipped machine shop and metallurgical laboratory include: heat treating and plating; heat-resistant inorganic coatings; Alseal/Sermatech coatings; Fluropolymer/dry film coatings; TIG welding; and Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA) welding. Land based gas turbines and steam turbines, as are used in power stations, mining power plants and oil & gas platforms are also maintained at the company’s Australia wide locations.