Magnesium Alloys in Aircraft Seats, Opportunity and Overcoming Barriers

Magnesium alloys, generally recognized as a lighter weight alternative to aluminum alloys, continue to gain favor in many ground vehicle programs and equally have a long and successful history in certain aircraft applications.  However, current industry specifications and federal government regulations prohibit its use in aircraft passenger cabin applications that would benefit greatly from its light weighting advantages. This paper discusses the opportunities for magnesium alloys in weight savings of aircraft seats and then focuses on efforts to overcome the restrictive specification and regulatory hurdles. Preliminary flammability experiments conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed rare earth containing magnesium alloys had a tendency to resist ignition and to self extinguish if ignited.  This led to in-aircraft full-scale flammability testing ultimately demonstrating no increase to the safety hazard inside the aircraft in a post crash fire event when using magnesium alloy seat frames compared to aluminum alloy versions.  Videos of flammability testing are illustrated.  An FAA certification test method will soon be available to enable the use of magnesium alloys in aircraft seats.