Alclad 2029 Advanced Metallic Fuselage Alloy

Arconic has developed a new alloy, alclad 2029-T8, for advanced metallic fuselage skin applications. It is a silver containing aluminum-copper-magnesium alloy designed as a replacement for alclad 2524-T3 fuselage skins, offering dramatically improved strength and fracture toughness. In addition, the core corrosion behavior of alclad 2029-T8 is superior to that of alclad 2x24-T3, an advantage in applications where the fuselage skins are pocketed to reduce component weight which removes the cladding and can expose the core to corrosive environments. The alloy is also available in two naturally aged tempers, T3E39 and T3E49. Alclad 2029 in the T3E49 temper exhibits comparable strength and fracture toughness to Alclad 2524-T3 and has superior fatigue crack growth resistance. The T3E39 temper for alloy 2029 is a high formability temper designed for stretch formed fuselage skins such as double curvature panels. After forming it can either be used in the naturally aged condition if good fatigue crack growth resistance is needed, or it can be artificially aged to a T82 type temper for applications requiring high strength and fracture toughness.