Structural Aluminium Alloys For High Speed Flight

Abstract

There is a scarcity of specific design data which can be presented to the aircraft designer to enable him to assess the most suitable structural aluminium alloy for a high speed civilian transport aircraft. The problem is essentially due to the relatively low range of elevated temperatures, in which he is interested, coupled with the very long life requirements for a commercial transport aircraft flying at speeds at which it is possible to consider the use of aluminium alloys.Although the firm with which the author is associated has a vast experience in the development and knowledge of aluminium alloys for aero-engine and gas turbine purposes, it has never been required, in the past, to consider engine applications much below about 200°C, and the design data, which was determined over many years and provided as a service, satisfied the engine designers if the period of test was up to 1,000 hours. On the other hand, to the designer of aircraft for subsonic flight, kinetic heating is no problem at all, and he is quite satisfied with a knowledge of the room temperature properties of the various alloys.