Advanced alloy research improves aircrafts' efficiency Aluminum alloys, especially the cold finished aluminium wrought product known as alloy 2024, are extensively used in aircraft construction. Newly developed alloys offer the possibility of manufacturing safer and better aircrafts. Industrial Technologies © Shutterstock Alloy 2024 is an aluminium alloy with tensile strength comparable to that of steel. With such mechanical properties this alloy is ideal for applications requiring high strength. Typical uses include aircraft fittings and structures, computer parts, gears and shafts. The IDA project has focused its research on a new generation of alloys. These specific aluminium alloys have even better mechanical properties, especially in the form of plates. The alloys are expected to relieve the pressure on the modern aerospace industry for high efficiency and long service life aircrafts. After careful and thorough evaluation of their mechanical properties the recently developed alloys will greatly improve aircraft manufacturing. In order to determine the behaviour of the investigated alloys, the IDA project partners have evaluated fatigue and crack growth. In material science, fatigue is failure of material due to structural damages that occur when the specimen is subject to a cyclic load. All failure mechanisms originate at the microscopic level. Consequently, thorough knowledge of the microstructure of the alloys under investigation is also required. Once the parameters at microscopic scale that govern fatigue and crack growth are identified, the danger of material failure is greatly reduced. The IDA project partners have developed sophisticated models for simulating and predicting fatigue and crack growth behaviour. With the aid of these models a more exact definition of the requirements for the new aluminium alloys is possible. Development of damage tolerant materials will substantially aid the European aerospace industry. Using the new alloys along with the in depth knowledge of their mechanical properties, better, faster and more reliable aircraft can be produced.
