K. Brown, Corus Aluminum Rolled Products, USA, Corpus Christi, TX; G. Trilling, I. Kröpfl, A. Heinz, Corus Aluminium Rolled Products, Koblenz, Germany; A. Philips, D. Chellman, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth, TX
A comparison was made of the machining behavior of conventional and special process plates of 7050 T7451 aluminium alloy plates. The residual stresses in these plates were characterized by ultrasonic scans and standard machining deflection tests. The differences in the residual stress levels resulting from the different production processes were then verified by machining actual aircraft parts. The special processing yielded measured residual stresses approximately half of those in conventional processed material, and the actual machined parts showed over 30% smaller deflections
Summary: A comparison was made of the machining behavior of conventional and special process plates of 7050 T7451 aluminium alloy plates. The residual stresses in these plates were characterized by ultrasonic scans and standard machining deflection tests. The differences in the residual stress levels resulting from the different production processes were then verified by machining actual aircraft parts. The special processing yielded measured residual stresses approximately half of those in conventional processed material, and the actual machined parts showed over 30% smaller deflections.
