AIRCRAFT MATERIAL

AND
PROCESS
   Objective

 Identify types of aircraft material and their

relative importance
 Characteristics of different materials
 How selection of material affect aircraft
maintenance
 How materials processed during
manufacturing and maintenance
 course outline
 Introduction
 Historical development of aircraft structural
material
 Material selection
 Mechanical properties of materials
 Course Outline (continued)
 Division of Materials
 Metals
– Ferrous Metals (iron and steel)
 Extraction and use of iron
 Identification
– Nonferrous Metals
 Aluminum Alloys
 Magnesium Alloys
 Titanium
 Monel
 Course Outline (continued)
 Nonmetal Materials
–   Aircraft Wood
– Aircraft Fabrics
–  Composite Materials
 Plastic Resins

 Thermoplastic Resins

 Thermosetting Resins

– Polyester Resin
– Epoxy Resin
 Course Outline (continued)
 Reinforcing Materials
 Glass Fibers
 Kevlar
 Graphite
 Course Outline (continued)
 Metal Heat Treatment
   Ferrous Metal Heat Treatment
– Hardening
– Normalizing
– Annealing
– Tempering
– Case Hardening
 Course Outline (continued)
 Nonferrous Metal Heat Treatment
– Aluminum and Magnesium Alloys
 Solution Heat Treatment

 Precipitation Heat Treatment

 Annealing

 Heat Treatment of Rivets

 Aluminum Alloy Temper Designations

 Course Outline (continued)
 Titanium Alloys
– Stress Relieving
– Annealing
– Thermal Hardening
– Case Hardening
 Course Outline (continued)
 Hardness Testing
– Rockwell Hardness Testing
– Brinell Hardness Testing
 Shaping of materials
– Hot working
– Cold working
– Extrusion
Introduction   
 Historical Development of
Aircraft Materials
 Early airplane
– spruce or bamboo (structural material)
– cotton fibers (lifting surface)
 After world war I
– Welded steel tube truss + plywood
 World War II
– Metal skin (monocoque construction)
 Latest Development
– Plastic resins reinforced with fibers
 Material Selection

 Strength
Strength / Weight ratio
 Weight
 reliability
 corrosion resistance
 suitability for the purpose
 cost
 Mechanical properties of
Material
 Properties of the material which
define how the material respond to
external force imposed is called
mechanical properties
 Some of the mechanical properties
are:
– malleability, ductility, hardness,
strength, brittleness
 Tensile Strength
 a resistance to a force which tends to pull
apart
 measured in
– psi (pounds per square inch)
– Pa (1Pascal = 1N per square meter)
 Compression Strength
 It is a resistance to a crushing force.
 measured in
– psi (pounds per square inch)
– Pa (1Pascal = 1N per square meter)
 Shear Strength
 It is a resistance to shearing or laminating
force.
 measured in
– psi (pounds per square inch)
– Pa (1Pascal = 1N per square meter)
 Bending Strength
 It is a resistance to deflecting forces
 Factors that affect bending strength
– tensile & compression strength
– cross sectional area
– shape of the cross section
 Other properties
 Ductility
– The property of a material that allows it to be drawn,
or stretched, into a thin section without breaking.
 Malleability
– The properties of a material that allows it to be rolled
into sheet without failure.
 Hardness
– a resistance of a material not to be scratched by other
material.
 Brittleness
– failure of a material with out plastic deformation
 Division of Materials

 Aircraft material can be grouped into two

major groups:
– metals
 good conductors of heat & electricity

 they can be further classified as:

– ferrous metals
– non-ferrous metals
– non-metals
 poor conductors of electricity
 Ferrous Metals
 These are metal having iron as a main
constituent.
 Examples
– iron
 pig iron

 wrought iron

 cast iron

– steel
 low carbon steel

 medium carbon steel

 high carbon steel

      Extraction and use of
iron

 Blast Furnace
– used to refine
iron ore
       Identification

 aircraft material is classified according to the SAE four-

digit numbering system that identifies its composition.
In this system, the digits have the following meaning:
– First digit: basic alloying element
– Second digit: the percentage of the basic element in the alloy
– Third and fourth digits: percentage of carbon in the alloy in
hundredths of a percent
 For example,
– SAE 1020 steel is low-carbon steel that contains 0.20%
carbon.
 1xxx Carbon steel
 Steels containing between 0.10% and 0.30% carbon
(SAE 1010 and 1030) are classed as low-carbon steels
and are used for making safety wire and certain
secondary structural parts where strength is not critical.
 Steels containing between 0.30% and 0.50% carbon
(SAE 1030 and 1050) are medium-carbon steels and
are used for machined and forged parts, especially
where surface hardening is needed.
 Steel containing between 0.50% and 1.05% carbon
(SAE 1050 and 1150) are high-carbon steel and are
used where extreme hardness is required. Springs are
made of high-carbon steel.
 2xxx Nickel steel

 Between 3% and 3.75% nickel

– to increase its hardness, tensile strength, and
elastic limit without appreciably decreasing its
ductility.
– SAE 2330 steel is used for aircraft bolts, cable
terminals, keys, clevises, and pins.
 3xxx Nickel-chromium steel

 Nickel gives toughness to steel, and

chromium hardens it. Nickel-chromium
steels such as SAE 3130 and 3250 are used
for forged and machined parts where high
strength, ductility, toughness, and shock
resistance are needed.
 4xxx Chrome-molybdenum
steel
 Most aircraft structural steel is a chrome-
molybdenum alloy that combines toughness and
high strength with ease of welding and machining.
SAE 4130 is one of the most popular alloys, and it
is used extensively for welded steel structure such
as fuselage frames, landing gear, and engine
mounts. Engine cylinders and other highly
stressed parts are often made of SAE 4130 steel.
6xxx Chrome-vanadium steel

 Chrome-vanadium steels are used

extensively for wrenches and other hand
tools where extremely high strength and
toughness are essential.
 
 Stainless Steel
 is corrosion-resistant steel
 identified by a three-digit system.
– The 300 series of stainless steel contains approximately 18%
chromium and 8% nickel.
– The 200 series contains some manganese. Both alloys are
non­magnetic and neither can be hardened by heat treatment.
Aircraft firewalls are usually made of 300 series stainless
steel at least 0.015 inch thick.
– The 400 series of stainless steel has gained popularity as
knife blades and razor blades because it can be hardened by
proper heat treatment, and it is magnetic.
 Nonferrous Metals

 metals which have elements other than iron

as their base or principal constituent.
 This group includes
– aluminum
– titanium
– copper
– magnesium
– monel (alloy)
 Aluminum Alloys

 It is one of the most widely used aircraft material

for its high strength to weight ratio.
 To improve the structural importance of
aluminum we use different alloying elements
– manganese chromium, silicon, copper magnesium etc.
 Pure aluminum has good corrosion resistance.
 Copper(with high percentage share) improves
strength with substantial decrease in corrosion
resistance of pure Al.
 Aluminum Alloy Designation
 designated by four digit index system
 The system has three distinct groups
– 1xxx
– 2xxx to 8xxx
– 9xxx (unused series)
 1xxx group
 first digit
– major alloying element (99% pure aluminum)
 second digit
– alloy modification
 last two digit
– to indicate the hundreds of 1% above original
99 percent
 2xxx-8xxx Group
 first digit (major alloying element)
– 2xxx copper
– 3xxx – manganese
– 4xxx – silicon
– 5xxx – magnesium
– 6xxx – magnesium and silicon
– 7xxx – zinc
– 8xxx – other elements
 second digit
– alloy modification
 last two digit
– identify different alloy in the group
 Clad Aluminum
 clad aluminum. An aluminum alloy sheet
that has a coating of pure aluminum rolled
onto its surfaces. Aluminum alloys are
corrosive, but pure aluminum is not.
 Magnesium Alloys

 lightest structural metal

 it is naturally weak metal thus alloyed to
produce sufficient strength
 highly susceptible to corrosion
 tendency to crack under excessive vibration
 can ignite and burn (use dry-powder fire
extinguisher)
 Titanium

 light weight and corrosive resistant

 high structural strength which it retains to a
high temperature
 pure titanium can be hardened by cold
working.
 inert-gas arc welding should be used to
protect oxidation
 Monel

 is an alloy of nickel and copper

 used for applications that demand high
strength and high resistance to corrosion
– example
 muffler and hardware

 low coefficient of expansion

 Nonmetal Materials

 poor conductor of heat and electricity

 history
– metal replaced non metals (strength value)
– non-metals are replacing metals (high strength
to weight ratio, high performance)
for instance composite materials are replacing metal
control surfaces
 Aircraft Wood

 Sitka spruce is the reference wood for aircraft

structures.
 It is straight grained, lightweight, and easy to
work.
 It is used for wing spars and fuselage stringers in
some of the older truss-type airplanes.
 Spruce has been replaced by extruded aluminum
alloys in almost all applications and it is seldom
used today in anything but amateur-built aircraft
 Aircraft Fabrics

 Long staple cotton fiber woven into a cloth

with 80 threads per inch
 Irish linen, having approximately the same
weight and strength
 Polyester fibers(finished with a special
nontautening dope )
 Linen and cotton fabrics are both shrunk
with dope.
 Composite Materials

 materials destined to replace much of the

metal in aircraft structure
 These materials are plastic resins reinforced
with filaments of glass, carbon, Kevlar, and
boron
 Plastic Resins

 we have two groups of plastic resins:

– thermoplastic and
– thermosetting
 Thermoplastic Resins

 can be softened by heat and will again

become hard when they cool down
 common materials
– Cellulose acetate
– Acrylic resins (Plexiglas, Lucite, and Perspex )
 Acrylics are more transparent, and are
considerably stiffer than cellulose acetate.
 Thermosetting Resins

 A thermosetting resin will not soften when it is

heated, and it will char and burn before it melts
 is used as a matrix to hold filaments of glass,
graphite, aramid, and other materials
 Types
– Polyester Resin
Epoxy Resin
 
 Polyester Resin
 Pure polyester is thick and unworkable
 working resin is formed by
– polyester resin
– styrene resin
– inhibitor
– suppressor
– accelerator
 Polyester resins cure when heat causes the
individual molecules to join together to form chains
 Special care must be exercised when
mixing polyester resins to use the exact
procedure recommended by the resin
manufacturer. Do not mix ingredients from
different manufacturers
 Polyester resins shrink as they cure
 Epoxy Resin
 Epoxy resins are strong, resistant to
moisture and chemicals, and have
extremely good adhesion characteristics.
 There are used as the matrix for many of the
advanced composite materials.
 Epoxy resins differ from polyester resins in
that epoxy uses a curing agent rather than a
catalyst
       Reinforcing Materials
 Reinforcing materials are fibers that produce the
strength and rigidity that make composite
structures of such importance in aircraft
construction.
 Types
– Glass Fibers
– Kevlar
– Graphite
 Glass Fiber    
 are one of the first reinforcing materials for
aircraft composite construction
 They weigh more and have less strength
than many of the other fibers.
 Two types of fiberglass cloth
– E-glass
– S-glass(stronger, tougher, stiffer and weighs
less than E-glass)
 Kevlar
 Kevlar is an aramid fiber that is
exceptionally well adapted for use in
aircraft structure.
 It has high tensile strength and excellent
stiffness, toughness, and resistance to
impact, and it is lighter than either glass or
graphite.
 Graphite
 Thin filaments of graphite, or carbon
 It is extremely stiff and strong, and is more
brittle than Kevlar.
 It has the problem of being corrosive when
it is bonded directly to aluminum alloys.
 By orienting several layers of unidirectional
graphite fabric in the correct directions,
aircraft structures can be made rigid enough
to withstand flight loads not tolerated by
more conventional types of aircraft
construction.
 Metal Heat Treatment

 It is the process which involve controlled

heating, soaking and cooing to obtain
definite mechanical properties.
 This allows a metal to be strengthened by
hardening, or softened for ease of working,
when its strength is not critical.
 Ferrous Metal Heat
Treatment
 A pure metal (a single chemical element)
does not appreciably change its structure as
it is heated and cooled
 For most alloys, when they are heated, the
alloying elements go into a solid solution
with the base metal, and the structure of the
metal changes.
 Consideration in Heat
Treatment
 Chemical composition
– Determines the uper critical limit
 Rate of heating, soaking and cooling
– furnace
– temperature control
– soaking time
– suitable quenching medium
 Forms of steel
 Ferrite
– particles of iren carbide scattered in iron matrix
 austenite
– solid solution of carbon in iron matrix
 Carbide
– fine carbide is formed when it is cooled
 Upper critical temperature defines the transition
point between carbide and austenite
      Hardening    
 The internal structure of steel determines its
hardness.
 Factors which define harness
– number of iron carbide particles,
– their size
– their distribution within the ferrite
– the rate of cooling
 Rate of Cooling
 controlled by quenching medium
 higher cooling rate gives harder steel
 quenching medium in the order of cooling rate
– brine
– water
– oil
– air
– furnace
 Normalizing
 Normalizing is a form of heat treatment in
which stresses are removed from a metal
that has been welded, rolled, or otherwise
unevenly hardened.
 It involves:
– metal is heated to a temperature above its
critical temperature and
– allowed to cool in still air.
 Normalizing removes stresses and improves
the grain structure, toughness, and ductility
of the metal
 Annealing

 Annealing is a form of heat treatment in which a

metal is made soft.
 It involves:
– heating the metal to just above the upper critical point
– soaking it at this temperature
– cooling it very slowly in the furnace.
 Annealing produces a fine-grain, soft, ductile
metal without internal stresses or strains.
 In the annealed state, steel has its lowest strength.
 Tempering

 Tempering is a form of heat treatment in

which some of the hardness and brittleness
is removed from a metal that has been
hardened by heat treatment.
 Tempering is done by holding it at an
elevated temperature (below UCT) for a
period of time and then allowing it to cool
in still air.
 Case Hardening
 
 produces a hard, wear-resistant surface on
the metal, and leaves the core strong and
tough.
 Low-alloy steels are best suited for case
hardening
 Methods case hardening
– Carburizing
– Nitriding
 Nitriding
 Nitriding is a form of case hardening for steel in which
the surface of the steel is changed into a layer of a
nitride.
 Conditions:
– The steel part is heated in atmosphere of ammonia
– Aluminum, an alloying element in the steel, combines with
the nitrogen and forms an extremely hard aluminum nitride
surface on the steel.
 Nitriding does not change the dimension of the part
and it causes less distortion than other types of case
hardening
 Carburizing
 Carburizing is a case hardening process in
which additional carbon is infused into the
surface of a low-carbon steel to produce
heat treatable surface.
 Methods:
– pack carburising
– heating in carbon mono-oxide atmosphere
Nonferrous Metal Heat
Treatment
Precipitation Aluminum and
Magnesium Alloys
 Types of heat treatment:
– solution heat treatment
– precipitation heat treatment
– annealing
 Several of the aluminum and magnesium
alloys may be hardened by solution heat
treatment.
 Solution Heat Treatment

 It involves:
– heating them in a furnace until they have
reached a specified temperature throughout
– immediately quenching them in water
– let it gains hardness and strength over a period
of several days through the process of aging.
 Example
– heat treatment for 2017 and 2024 aluminum
alloys
 Precipitation Heat
Treatment
 Process:
– heating it to a temperature much lower than that used for
solution heat treatment
– held at this temperature for up to 24 hours
– removed from the oven and allowed to cool in still air.
 This precipitation hardening, or artificial aging, greatly
increases the strength and hardness of the metal, but it
decreases the ductility; the metal becomes more
difficult to bend and form. This procedure has no
effect, however, on its corrosion resistance.
 Aluminum Alloy Temper
Designations
 F— The metal is left as fabricated.
 0 — The metal has been annealed.
 T — The metal may be heat treated.
 T3 — solution heat treatment, followed by strain
hardening. A second 1-8 digit, if used, indicates the
amount of strain hardening. ;
 T4 — solution heat treatment, followed by natural
aging at room temperature.
 T6 — solution heat treatment, followed by artificial
aging (precipitation heat treated).
 T7 —solution heat treatment, followed by
stabilization.
 T8 — solution heat treatment, followed
by strain hardening and then
 artificial aging.
 T9 — solution heat treatment, followed
by artificial aging and then strain
hardening.
 H — The metal cannot be heat treated, but can be
hardened by cold working.
 H1 — strain hardened by cold working.
 H2 — strain hardened by cold working and then
partially annealed.
 H3 — strain hardened and stabilized.
 A second 1-8 digit, if used, indicates the
amount of strain hardening
– example:
 H36 — strain hardened and stabilized to its 3/4 hard condition.
 H12 — strain hardened to its 1/4 hard condition.
 H14 — strain hardened to its 1/2 hard condition.
 H18 — strain hardened to its full hard condition.
 H19 — strain hardened to its extra hard condition
 Titanium Alloys

 Stress Relieving

 Annealing

 Thermal Hardening

 Case Hardening
Hardness Testing

 Rockwell Hardness Testing

Brinell Hardness Testing

 Shaping of materials
 Shaping of metals is required to produce parts
which meet certain geometric requirement.
 There are three methods of metalworking:
– Hot working
– Cold working
– Extrusion
 The method used depends on material and the
part required.
 Hot Forming
 Any metal forming process while the metal
is above critical temperature is called Hot
Working.
 Example:
– hot rolling (sheet metal, finished by cold-
rolling)
– forging (crank-shaft)
 Cold Forming
 Cold working applies to mechanical
working performed at temperatures below
the critical range.
 Example:
– cold rolling
– cold drawing
 Extrusion
 It is the process of producing bars of intricate
shape by forcing of metal through an opening in a
die.
 advantage:
– flexible
– economical for workable materials
– can be used to produce complex sections
 example:
– T-sections, Z-sections. angles, channels etc.