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| An aircraft in the making |
When an aircraft designer embarks on a plan to make a plane,
there are a million things which come at play. However, everything else falls
into place around three main conditions – a light weight body, a rust free
durable frame, and high fuel efficiency. A metal that checks all the boxes is Aluminium.
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| Aluminium used in plane body |
Aluminum makes up for about 80% of the modern aircraft. An
alloy, known as Duralumin, was later developed by a German aircraft designer
who showed its remarkable properties. The alloy if treated with heat for a long
time would eventually become stronger than aluminium, a process known as
distressing. Since then aluminium has found its way from wing panes to exhaust
pipes in the aircraft. The cockpit panels, passenger seats and even the
interior of the engine turbines employ aluminium in one form or the other.
Let us know a few alloys which find use in aviation. There
are specific series of aluminum alloys which are classified as follows:
- 2xxx series: This high-strength aluminum alloy is the most common one. Typical uses are aircraft skins, hoods, structures, and for repair and restoration because of its shiny finish. E.g.: 2024-T3 Alclad aluminum sheet.
- 3xxx series: Pure aluminum with manganese added for strength. This alloy is non heat treatable i.e. cannot be distressed. It is widely used for hoods and baffle plating (a mechanical device designed to restrain or regulate the flow of a fluid). E.g.: 3003-H14
- 5xxx series: It has the highest strength in the non heatable alloys and has brilliant corrosion resistance. It is commonly used to make fuel tanks E.g.: 5052 aluminum sheet.
- 7xxx series: It is the strongest of all aluminium alloys and comparable to steel, however it weighs only a third of what steel weighs. It is used in hydraulics, lubrication and fuel systems. E.g.: 7075 alloy.
Aircraft design is as much about safety as it is about flair
and performance. The use of riveted sheets ensure that even if the plane gets
damaged, the plane will continue to function with minimal issues. Carbon fibers
are an alternative to the light weight of aluminum but are a dud in safety.
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| Live rocket boosters |
Even in spaceflights, aluminium is used in making compact
rocket boosters. Powdered ammonium perchlorate is an excellent oxidizer which
is used in the first stage of spaceflight. Just to cite an example, the world's
most powerful launch vehicle - Saturn-5, capable of carrying 140 tonnes of load
into orbit, burns through 36 tonnes of aluminium powder in the time it takes to
reach earth’s orbit. That means it loses nearly a quarter of its weight as it launches
into space.
Aluminium’s history in aviation is quite exquisite. The Wright
Brothers used it in their first flight – the Flier-1 aircraft. Even before this
flight took off, Ferdinand von Zeppelin had built a colossal airship in which
he had promoted the use of the light weight property of aluminium.
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| A Zeppelin airship |
Pioneering space missions by adept countries will rely
heavily on the metal of the future. The applications are immense and we have
only scratched the surface.
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| A fighter plane |
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