Enhanced rolled and extruded products: An update of ongoing product developments using conventional and Airware® technology

The challenges for developing competitive aircraft in today’s market include high performance, reduced environmental impact and improved operating costs. The right material choices play a key role. Constellium’s advanced alloy portfolio covers applications throughout the wing box and fuselage structure. For this year’s conference, the latest developments in thick plate and extrusion products will be discussed.

As monolithic structures are an important driver for cost reductions in downstream assembly, the materials requirements are more and more challenging from a property balance point of view. In particular, a combination of high strength and enhanced damage tolerance is required in order to respond to multi-directional loading requirements and to meet weight targets fixed by the aircraft program. Within this framework, Constellium’s 7160 plate alloy will be presented demonstrating its enhanced performance compared to incumbent products.

The second example which will be discussed is extruded Airware^® technology. High performance and excellent buy-to-fly ratios make Airware^® extrusions interesting for several areas of the airframe. High strength alloy Airware^® 2065 will be compared to typical 7xxx alloys targeting static property dominated areas such as upper wing covers and internal structural components. For more damage tolerance and fatigue orientated areas, Airware^® 2076 has been developed. A large dataset will be presented in comparison to typical lower wing cover products using conventional metallurgy and the well-known Airware^® 2196.