Aluminium alloy for aerospace

Aluminium alloy castings for aerospace

In modern aircraft structural parts, 1500 to 2000 types of aluminium castings are utilised. According to the different conditions of use and parts of the aircraft, three basic aluminium alloys are mainly used: i.e. high strength aluminium alloy, heat resistant aluminium alloy and corrosion resistant aluminium alloy. High-strength aluminium alloys are mainly used for aircraft fuselage components, engine compartments, seats, manoeuvring systems, etc., and can replace aluminium die-forged parts in most cases. High-strength aluminium alloys are mainly aluminium-copper alloys in Russia and aluminium-copper-manganese alloys in the USA. The aluminium-copper alloy parts are mainly produced by sand mould casting. Heat-resistant aluminium alloy parts are mainly used in the nacelle near the motor, air exchange systems, etc.. The temperature here reaches 200 to 400°C. Compared to common structural alloys and high-strength alloys, this alloy has the advantage of being highly alloyed and belongs to the aluminium-copper-nickel family. The corrosion-resistant aluminium alloy has sufficiently high performance indicators for its strength, plasticity, impact toughness, fatigue properties and weldability, and is mainly corrosion-resistant so that it can be used in seaplanes. It is an aluminium-magnesium alloy and an aluminium-magnesium-zinc alloy.

Large extruded aluminium profiles for aerospace

With the progress of science and technology, aluminium alloy profiles are developing in the direction of large-scale, integral, thin-walled and flat-width, high precision size and complex shape, and the scope of application has been promoted from civil-type materials to aerospace profiles. The main characteristics of large profiles are: ① large-scale and integral; ②thin-walled and lightweight; ③precision of section size and shape tolerance; ④uniformity and quality of organizational properties. Due to the above characteristics of large profiles, a series of difficulties are brought to extrusion processing. Large extruded profiles for aerospace are mainly: overall ribbed wall plates, I-beams, wing beams, comb profiles, hollow beam profiles, etc. They are mainly used as stressed structural parts of aircraft, spacecraft and other aerospace vehicles, as well as shaped hollow rotor beams for helicopters and aircraft runways.