New Thick Structural Plate Products From Alcoa

A significant volume of “thick” aluminum plate products is used in the manufacture of an aircraft's internal structure in applications such as ribs, frames, bulkheads, etc. A program at Alcoa was aimed at developing a portfolio of new product offerings for these “thick” structural plate applications in view of rising fuel costs, increasing environmental constraints and the desire for reduced maintenance costs in derivative and next-generation aircraft. These include three new 7xxx alloy products: 7085-T7451 developed for very thick applications (4 to 7in), providing significant improvements in both strength and toughness with excellent corrosion resistance, and C85T-T7651/-T7451 plate developed over a range of plate thicknesses (1 to 6in), providing substantially higher strength with similar or better toughness over incumbent 7050 plate in a given temper. Two new Al-Li plate products will also be presented, covering different parts of the performance vs. density spectrum, with significant improvements over both 7xxx & Al-Li incumbents.