Righton Blackburns Limited

Stainless steel is one of the most sustainable construction materials on the planet. As well as the long service life of stainless steel components, even those exposed to the elements (which is sort of the point of stainless steel in the first place), stainless steel is 100% recyclable. Since it was first mass produced in the early 20th century, between 40% and 60% of all stainless steel produced has been recycled.

Our range of stainless steel products includes long products, flat products, marine and aerospace materials, tubular products and handrailing. Materials are sources from approved and highly reputable mills and our customers can have confidence that all materials supplied originate from trusted and proven manufacturers.
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What makes the materials we sell so suitable for precision engineering applications is the consistency and reliability of their quality.

We are very selective when it comes to our suppliers because our reputation relies on the quality of the materials we deliver. Our ISO 9001:2015 certification isn't just the result of hard work to ensure we exceed our customer's expectations, but it's a commitment that Righton Blackburns will always seek to improve our service.

When your materials are delivered, you can be reassured that our extensive quality control measures ensure what you order is exactly what you expect.

Aluminium bronzes have been in production since the 1850s, and since then there's been a consistent level of development in improving the performance of these alloys.

What has consistently remained in the performance of aluminium bronzes is the nature of aluminium. The strong affinity to form oxides means that any alloy of aluminium remains incredibly resistant to corrosion. The oxide layer on the surface of the metal protects it against everything from atmospheric moisture to barnacles.
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Aluminium Bronze C63200 TQ50 Our latest stock has arrived at Righton Blackburns Leeds We have invested a significant sum enhancing our range of Aluminium Bronze by introducing C63200 TQ50 in 19.05mm – 101.60mm diameter bars.

What do the Boeing 787, the iPhone 15 Pro, and your gran have in common?

Well, not necessarily your gran. BS TA11, or Ti-6AL-4V, a titanium alloy with 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium, is the material of choice for medical implants such as artificial hips. The physical properties of titanium coupled with the fact that it doesn't react badly to being inside the human body and is far more resistant to corrosion than alternatives make it the ideal choice.

What are those physical properties? Well, it was developed for military applications and offers an incredible strength-to-weight ratio, as well as excellent impact toughness. These traits are why it is extensively used in both the latest iPhone and the Dreamliner.

In the iPhone, it offers improved protection over the aluminium used in the enclosures of earlier models. In the 787 this alloy's use reduces the weight of the aircraft considerably, and contributes towards its status as the most fuel-efficient plane Boeing have ever made.
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It's been 20 years since the retirement of an aviation legend. British Airways' Concordes were all officially retired on 24th October 2003 (around four months after Air France had done the same).

One thing that most people probably don't know about Concorde is that its white paint job had a vital engineering function. The skin of the aircraft was, as is the case with most aeroplanes, an aluminium alloy. This was chosen for the usual reasons that it was lightweight, easy to work with, and relatively cheap. However, the skin of the plane would get very hot as Concorde shot through the air at twice the speed of sound.

One way to prevent the plane's skin heating so much it failed was highly reflective white paint, which actually reduced the temperature of the aircraft's skin by as much as 11°C.

The need to control the temperature of the outer surfaces of Concorde is one of the primary factors dictating its maximum speed of Mach 2.02.

Come and pick the brains of our resident experts who'll be in attendance at this year's Advanced Engineering event at the NEC in Birmingham on the 1st and 2nd of November.

The UK largest gathering of engineering and manufacturing professionals, it's a great place to connect with others in the industry.

If you do make your way there (and tickets are free), do pop to our stand N128

Our service centres in Manchester, Bristol, Plymouth, and Portsmouth are all aerospace specialists. Each has AS 9100 Rev D and AS 9120 Rev B certification and CS21 Silver Awards. This represents our dedication to only supplying quality, verified materials, and meeting our client's OTIF expectations.
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Typically, when discussing the weight of materials, it's desirable to have less weight for a given level of performance. However, in architecture, there are times when it's the opposite. Like this, the Tuned Mass Damper in Taipei 101.

20 years ago today, Taipei 101 became (although still under construction) the tallest skyscraper in the world, a title it held for over five years. This huge ball is a vital part of what keeps this tall building standing, which is impressive when you consider that it was built within 200m of a major fault line in an area where typhoon-strength winds are common. Taipei 101 has been subjected to two serious earthquakes since its construction and came through entirely unscathed.

The Tuned Mass Damper is a large pendulum, weighing in at 660 tonnes, and measuring over five metres across. This huge ball of steel counters the vibrations that hit the building during high winds or earthquakes, allowing Taipei 101 to flex but not break.

Photo credit to Armand du Plessis

The right material for the job, that's what our on-site experts can help you find. Even if the requirements of that job may seem so demanding that you're going to need some expensive, specialist material to meet them.

Need something dimensionally stable, capable of handling high temperatures, chemically and electrically resistant, and cost is a factor? How about PPS? A stalwart of our engineering plastics range, PPS is often the go-to option when PEEK isn't cost-effective.

Check out our range of engineering plastics.
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Life-saving defibrillators have been installed at the majority of our Service Centres with the remainder by the end of 2023.

As part of our ESG commitments, Righton Blackburns will have AED (Automated External Defibrillators) available at all of our service centres by the end of the year. We're also ensuring that each service centre has employees trained in their use and in CPR.

We've also taken the responsible step of ensuring our defibrillators are reported to The Circuit, the national defibrillator network.

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One of the more remarkable metals we stock is AMS 5666, also commonly referred to as Alloy 625. A nickel-chromium alloy with the addition of molybdenum and niobium, it is very hard and doesn't require additional treatment.

Its strength and resistance to heat and all sorts of corrosive atmospheres make it an ideal material for critical elements within jet engines, where high-performance materials that simply won't fail are needed.
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Today, 6th October marks the 194th anniversary of the start of the Rainhill trials, where Stephenson's Rocket won the competition to supply locomotives to the nearly completed Liverpool & Manchester Railway. This success, along with Locomotion No. 1 for the Stockton & Darlington Railway four years earlier made George and Robert Stephenson the pre-eminent builders of locomotives for much of the world.

Only 25 years from Richard Trevithick's first successful steam locomotive, Rocket was a showcase of everything the Stephensons had learned. One of the key secrets of Rocket's success was the use of multiple fire-tubes through the boiler. Most other locomotives used a single large flue, but Stephenson used 25 separate copper tubes to increase the surface area and more efficiently transfer the heat energy from the firebox to the boiler.

Copper was the ideal material, being easy to work with and resistant to the corrosion from the flue gases and the boiling water it would be subjected to. It was also lightweight, and much of the firebox was also constructed of copper to meet the trial's requirement of a weight limit, although this was replaced with more durable wrought iron for the locomotive's actual time serving the L&MR.

Copper is still used today for similar purposes, its corrosion resistance and thermal properties find it use in industrial radiators.
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Aluminium might be considered a "modern" metal, especially when it comes to aerospace applications, but its use actually dates back to the dawn of powered flight. The Wright Flyer, the world's first working aeroplane, had a custom-made aluminium engine block.

A similar engine was in the Wright Flyer III, which on 5th October 1905 proved to be the first practical aeroplane, flying for over 24 miles at an average speed of just under 40 miles per hour.

The reason Wilbur and Orville used aluminium for their engine is the same reason it's still used today; it's much lighter than steel and much cheaper than titanium, and alloys of aluminium are strong enough to form vital structural components of aircraft.
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Expertise, Collaboration, and Integrity are the three words emblazoned on our website because these are important to us.

Collaboration is, we feel, what our reputation is founded on. Our ability to work with our customers to ensure they get the service they need. It's from this collaboration that we're able to excel in OTIF supply, ensuring quality products that meet our customers' needs are in our customers' hands when they need them.
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Stainless steel is one of the most sustainable construction materials on the planet. As well as the long service life of stainless steel components, even those exposed to the elements, stainless steel is 100% recyclable. Between 40% and 60% of stainless steel is recycled.

Domestic use of stainless steel (including appliances and electronics) accounts for around 35% of the market, and unfortunately, it's here that we see almost a third ending up in landfill. In the automotive and construction industries, the vast majority of stainless steel is recycled after its long life cycle. All told recycled stainless steel uses 65% less energy to produce than new.

Righton Blackburns have been supplying the industry with stainless steel for over 100 years, building a reputation for quality and service with many customers in diverse market sectors. Our range of stainless steel products includes long products, flat products, marine and aerospace materials, tubular products and handrailing. Materials are sourced from approved and highly reputable mills and our customers can have confidence that all materials supplied originate from trusted and proven manufacturers.

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Stainless Steel Suppliers Our wide range of premium quality stainless steel products includes long and flat products, marine and aerospace materials, tubular and handrailing.

198 years ago, on the 27th of September 1825, the world's first passenger rail service pulled by a steam locomotive began, at the Stockton & Darlington Railway. The first journey consisted of 31 wagons of coal and passengers, and one passenger carriage named Experiment.

George Stephenson's Locomotion No. 1 which was used in that first journey kept running for the S&DR for twenty-five years, despite the fact the time was famed for rapid developments in steam engine development. George's son Robert Stephenson won the Rainhill Trials for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with his innovative Rocket just four years later, which was more reliable and twice as fast.

Like all of the early steam engines, Locomotion No. 1 was primarily constructed of cast iron and wood. After almost two centuries of improvements the materials used are stronger, lighter, and thanks to our commitment to quality, those provided to the rail industry by Righton Blackburns are more reliable.

Today marks 136 years since the birth of a British engineering legend, Barnes Wallis. Although perhaps best known today for developing the bouncing bomb used by the Dambusters in WWII, his greatest contribution was possibly the geodetic airframe. Developed when he was brought in to design the R100 airship at Vickers, which exceeded its design criteria and successfully crossed the Atlantic twice, until airships were abandoned following the R101 and Hindenburg tragedies.

Wallis used geodetic construction in the design of the Wellington bomber and its civilian airliner derivative, the Vickers Viking. The fuselage was constructed from 2000 series aluminium-copper alloy in a lattice structure that gave the aircraft considerable strength even if damaged while remaining very lightweight. Wallis' innovation gave the Wellington a survivability rate higher than any other bomber during WWII. Although the geodetic design was highly versatile and allowed for multiple adaptations as well as more fuel storage in the similarly constructed wings, it did make the Wellington unsuitable for any task that applied lengthwise stress on the airframe, such as towing gliders.

Part one of our new ESG policy is environmental sustainability, our commitment to minimise the impact of our activities on the planet and its biodiverse ecosystems.

We've already taken great strides towards our target of achieving net zero by 2040, including a drive to eliminating our use of fossil fuels.

Righton Blackburns have always had a robust approach to sourcing materials, but our new guidelines will take that a step further. Our new policy will involve a thorough examination of the entire lifecycle of every product we use, source, and supply, ensuring that environmental considerations are taken throughout and that we never support unacceptable labour practices anywhere in our supply chains.
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The last aspect of our ESG policy is Governance, specifically how Righton Blackburns is run. We need to be sure that we ensure that our commitments to the planet and our people are going to go hand-in-hand with Righton Blackburns remains a stable and profitable business.

As a company working to maximise our sustainability in all things, we need to recognise that we ourselves are sustainable. Ensuring the continuing reliability and quality of our service is an important aspect of this, our customers have to know that they will still receive the same Righton Blackburns commitment to Expertise, Collaboration, and Integrity, that the service and materials we supply are still the best around, and that all of our ESG promises are a bonus on top of that.
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The S in ESG stands for Social, and represents our promise to people, not only the people employed by Righton Blackburns directly, but those who work for our suppliers and for our customers, and those in the communities where we are based. This is a commitment to treat people fairly, with a focus on ensuring everyone is made to feel welcomed, included, and valued.

Our ESG policies give us new, clear guidelines for how we take the wellbeing of people into account in all our activities. This means developing a culture of mutual trust, support, and respect within our workplace, and implementing health and safety practices for our employees and the wider community.
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If you've seen our website in the last few days, you might have noticed a lot more information on there about what we've been working on recently.

We mentioned earlier in the year that we were working towards ISO 14001 compliance. Although we've always worked towards being the most ethical and sustainable business we can be, implementing an Environmental Management System in this way gives us objective criteria to work towards.

Our website now includes a section showing what we are doing to minimise and offset our impact to the planet, our commitments to doing the very best for our people, and how these strategies will strengthen Righton Blackburns as a stable and profitable business.
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We're incredibly proud of our reputation for being the gold standard in metal and plastic supply. How we accomplish this is not just because of our rigorous standards and state-of-the-art facilities, but because our people are the best.

The people who work at Righton Blackburns all work their hardest to deliver the very highest levels of customer service. This shows in their expertise in the products we sell and their commitment to giving our customers the best experience from the first phone call to the moment our driver delivers the order.

The commitment of our people is matched by our commitment to them. We can only keep being the best by supporting our people at every step, from fair rewards and recognition to training and development to build their skills. More than anything, we want to listen. Our people are the lifeblood of our company and their feedback about how we're doing and how we can do better is vital to us.

The UK Metals Expo 2023 starts today and we're happy to once again be a part of this event.

Founded with the ideal of stoking the energy of the entire UK metals supply chain to turn it into a powerhouse of industry and innovation, it's a great opportunity to connect with other leaders in the field.

Our stand is now open, G15 near the main entrance, where our friendly team are on hand to offer their expertise.

Be sure to say hi to our friendly experts who'll be manning our stand at the second UK Metals Expo at the NEC on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

We'll be at stand G15, near the main entrance.

Our services aren't just reliably supplying a wide range of metals and plastics with minimal lead time and service by true experts in the industry, we also offer some more specific services for our customers.

Need a specific heat-treated metal? We can arrange that for you. Need more elaborate fabrication and processing? We can offer high-accuracy cutting, boring, turning, machining, and gun drilling, as well as open and close die forgings or bespoke extrusions.

What's more, our custom work is carried out with the same rapid turnaround and minimal lead time as all our work. Speak to the highly knowledgeable experts at your local service centre for more information.
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We have state-of-the-art facilities at all of our Service Centres toPlease speak supply more finished components, freeing our customers up to work on the details of their manufacturing process. By supplying raw materials that are already cut to size, with specific finishing and coating, our customers can save a lot of time, energy, and money.
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Our in-house processing includes CNC Routing, Blanking, Coil Shearing, Guillotining, Special Finishes, and Fabrication Services. Please speak to one of our experts at our service centres to discuss your exact needs.
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Processing & Fabrication Our extensive facilities across all of our service centres can supply more finished components, freeing you up to focus on your contribution. Read more.

100 years ago today (4th September 1923), the USS Shenandoah made its maiden flight. The first of the US Navy's rigid airships, the Shenandoah was a pioneer in lighter-than-air travel, being the first airship filled with helium rather than hydrogen. At the time, refined helium was in short supply, and the 200m long airship used a sizeable fraction of the world's entire supply of the gas.

The massive frame of the Shenadoah was constructed of a 2000 series aluminium-copper alloy, still widely used today for aerospace structural components, due to it's strength and hardness while offering great rigidity while being lightweight.

Sadly, the Shenandoah broke apart mid-air in a storm two years and one day later, with the loss of 14 of its 43 crew. As testament to the structure of the airship and the tenacity of the crew, 29 survived managing to land the three separate sections of the stricken Shenandoah on farmland in Ohio.

An unusual aviation anniversary today. On this day forty-nine years ago (1st September 1974), the current record for flying from New York to London was set.

It's a record that's unlikely to be broken any time soon, despite being almost half a century old. James V. Sullivan and Noel F. Widdifield of the US Air Force set the record in the SR-71 Blackbird travelling the 3,462 miles in less than two hours, flying at speeds of over 1,800 miles per hour (just short of 3,000 km/h). The Blackbird still holds a number of impressive aviation records despite first flying in the 1960s and being withdrawn from service with the USAF over 25 years ago, such as absolute altitude in sustained flight and absolute speed.

The Blackbird was an expensive plane to produce, mostly to the fact that 85% of its structure was composed of titanium alloys. Using titanium for such a high proportion of the aircraft was almost unheard of in the 1960s, but no other alloy could match the strength and heat resistance needed to withstand the performance of this unique plane while being light enough to fly.