Why Mechanical And Chemical Properties Of Aerospace Materials Matter
When it comes to replacement parts and fabricated components in the aerospace and aviation industry, the quality and capabilities of the materials used is of paramount importance.
The most common metals used for aerospace fabrication include aluminum, titanium, tungsten, and stainless steel. Aluminum is still the most used metal in the aerospace application because it is lightweight compared to other metals or steels, which is important for fuel efficiency and to allow an aircraft to carry more weight.
Titanium is another popular aerospace industry material. In fact, aerospace applications account for 80 percent of titanium consumption globally. It is a strong and lightweight refractory metal, which means it is part of a class of metals that are extraordinarily resistant to heat and wear.
Titanium alloys are critical to the aerospace industry because of their durability, light weight, and corrosion resistance. Another popular metal is tungsten, used for its high melting point and density. Stainless steel is used for its strength and corrosion resistance.
Aerospace Metals Matter – Key Properties for Fabrication Materials
The mechanical and chemical properties of aerospace metals are important for fabrication purposes since they determine how a particular metal will react or behave when subjected to various manufacturing processes such as cutting, bending, and welding.
Mechanical properties are those properties that are associated with a metal’s ability to resist failure under the stress of external forces. Some of the most important mechanical properties of metals include elasticity, plasticity, ductility, malleability, toughness, and hardness.
Chemical properties of metals, on the other hand, are just as important to those working with them as they can affect how a metal reacts with other materials during fabrication. For example, some metals may be more susceptible to corrosion than others. By understanding these metal properties, fabricators can select the right metal for a particular application to ensure that it can be fabricated into the desired shape and size.
Traditionally, aluminum alloys are created by adding additional elements to pure aluminum to improve its properties. The addition of these various elements result in improved strength, workability, corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity, and density when compared with the same qualities in pure aluminum.
Additionally, the specific alloy compositions in aluminum materials will affect their appearance as well as their fabricability. For example, many aluminum alloys retain their mechanical properties at high temperatures, unlike pure aluminum.
The mechanical properties of aluminum are determined by factors such as the composition of the alloy, the manufacturing process used to produce it, and any heat treatments that it undergoes. The addition of elements such as yttrium to the aluminum alloy for extrusion can improve the mechanical properties of the material.
The Ideal Mechanical and Chemical Properties of Aerospace Aluminum Material
Aerospace grade aluminum is a kind of ultra-high strength deformed aluminum alloy that is widely used in the aviation industry.
“Deformed” aluminum alloy is a material that has had its structure and shape changed by stamping, bending, rolling, extrusion and other processes. It has good mechanical and processing properties, good plasticity after solution treatment, and a good strengthening effect resulting from heat treatment.
The most common aluminum alloy used in aerospace is 7075, which has zinc as the primary alloying element. It is strong, with strength comparable to many steels, and has good fatigue strength and average machinability but has less resistance to corrosion than many other aluminum alloys.
Generally speaking, if high strength and overall durability is required, then 7075 alloy can claim the title as one of the strongest aluminum alloys available. Although 7075 is typically a much higher cost material, it is the “go to” alloy for fabricators and manufacturers when strength and toughness are crucial.
On the other hand, if an aluminum alloy is needed that is both weldable and machinable, and provides great versatility, the most common choice is 6061 alloy. It is, in fact, one of the most popular aluminum alloys available, largely due to its adequate strength, formability, weldability, machinability, and corrosion resistance.
AAA Air Support: Your Trusted Source for Aerospace Metals Products
AAA Air Support is a manufacturer and stocking distributor of quality raw materials for the Aerospace Industry including roll form stringers and extruded parts, as well many other aluminum, steel and titanium aviation and aerospace products.
In addition, we provide a full range of precision machining services. Our state-of-the-art processes ensure consistent quality production.
AAA Air Support provides world-class customer service and a number of great roll forming benefits that include:
- Custom Roll Forming
- Tight Tolerances
- Short Runs
- In-house Tooling Design and Manufacture
So, no matter whether you need 100 feet or more of an aluminum extrusion product, or just a few feet of stainless-steel tubing, AAA Air Support is fully capable of shipping your part orders accurately, quickly, efficiently, and according to our quality aerospace standards.
And our ‘AOG Mission’ is to provide your company with the materials to complete the project or get the airplane back in the air service. All of which means that your requests are always our ‘top priority’.
We are the AAA Air Support family, and we thank you for choosing us. And, as we respectfully ask all our customers, “How may we be of service?”
