Professional Documents
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Week-1
Introduction to
Aerospace Materials
Introduction to Aerospace Materials
v The materials used in airframe structures and in jet engine components
are critical to the successful design, construction, certification, operation
and maintenance of aircraft.
Damage tolerance Fracture toughness and ductility, notch sensitivity, damage resistance
Electrical and High electrical conductivity, high radar transparency, radar absorbing
magnetic properties properties
9/25/18 UCK 353E Aerospace Materials Introduction 18
Which Criteria When
Structural performence
Safety RELY ON Improvements to
Fuel Economy the airframe and
Speed engine materials
Range
Operating life
9/25/18 UCK 353E Aerospace Materials Introduction 19
Weight Means Cost, Why?
• In aerospace structures, cost often means weight. Why?
• Saving a pound of weight means more than in other fields;
e.g.,
- payload (extra passengers, more satellites)
- fuel (longer distance, longer duration via extended station
keeping)
• Amount industries (civilian) are willing to pay to save a pound
(0.454 gr) of weight:
– Satellites $10,000 - $20,000 (w/o servicing)
– Transport Aircraft $100 - $200
– General Aircraft $25
– Automobile ∼ $0.00, but > $0
• Factors determining cost:
– Material cost
– Manufacturing
– Assembly-Subassembly
– Maintenance
– Durability…etc.
Achieved improvements
- Higher strength
- Longer fatigue life
- Greater fracture toughness
- Higher damage tolerance
- Better corrosion resistance
• High cost
• Lower stiffness, strength,
fatigue resistance, toughness
• Poor corrosion resistance
Advanced
Materials
Advances in
Materials
Trends on design life for US military aircraft
LOADS
- Surface Loads
- Body Loads
Examples of (a) monocoque and (b) semimonocoque
fuselage structures
9/25/18 UCK 353E Aerospace Materials Introduction 36
Fuselage Materials
• A semi-monocoque fuselage consists of
a thin shell stiffened in the longitudinal
direction with stringers and longerons
and supported in the radial direction
using transverse frames or rings
Fuselage Materials:
- Aluminium Alloy
- Carbon-fiber epoxy composites
- GLARE
Important properties for fuselage materials:
- Stiffness
- Strength
- Fatigue resistance
- Corrosion resistance
- Fracture toughness
Empennage Materials:
- Aluminium alloys
- Fiber-polymer composites
Visualizing Pressure
1 Pascal (1 Pa, or 1 N/m2): Imagine apple sauce made from an apple
and spread thinly enough to cover the card table. (too small)
Experiencing Pressure
1 Mega-Pascal (1 MPa, or 1 MN/m2): Stick one end of the toothpick into
apple and balance the end on your finger.
The ultimate load provides a “factor of Design is usually conservative and an additional
safety” (FOS) for unknowns. “Margin of Safety” (M.O.S.) is used/results
Malleability Ductility
• A metal which can be • Ductility of a material enables it
hammered, rolled, or pressed to draw out into thin wire on
application of the load.
into various shapes without
cracking, breaking, or leaving • Mild steel is a ductile material.
The wires of gold, silver, copper,
some other detrimental effect, aluminium, etc. are drawn by
is said to be malleable. extrusion or by pulling through a
• This property is necessary in hole in a die due to the ductile
sheet metal that is worked into property.
curved shapes, such as • The ductility decreases with
increase of temperature.
cowlings, fairings, or wingtips.
• Ductility is a tensile property,
• Copper is an example of a whereas malleability is a
malleable metal. compressive property.
• Malleability increases with
increase of temperature.
9/25/18 UCK 353E Aerospace Materials Introduction 55
PoM-Creep
• The slow and continuous
elongation of a material with
time at constant stress and
high temperature below
elastic limit is called creep.
• At high temperatures,
stresses even below the
elastic limit can cause some
permanent deformation on
stress-strain diagram
• The creep strength is used
for the design of blades and
other parts of steam and
gas turbines working at high
temperatures.