Advanced Aluminium and Hybrid Aerostructures for Future Aircraft

Abstract

Alcoa has made a fundamental shift in its aerospace R&D program, broadening its scientific and engineering portfolio by creating an integrated, strategic, long-term initiative. The ultimate goal is to help re-define the future performance, cost and value of the metallic and hybrid aerostructures that the company feels will be required to meet the mission requirements of tomorrow’s aircraft. Having intensely studied various structural options, Alcoa believes Hybrid Structural Assembly optimized with a combination of Advanced Aluminum and Hybrid Components offer the best opportunities to maximize structural performance. Not only do the new alloys, notably 3rd Generation Al-Li alloys and high strength and high toughness 7xxx alloys provide structural performance enhancements, they also offer dramatic improvements in corrosion resistance. In this paper, several advanced alloys and structural concepts targeted for next generation wing and fuselage applications and large scale test article results supporting Alcoa’s optimism for Advanced Metallic and Hybrid Structures are reviewed.