Moving into Terra Incognita - White Areas on the Map of Material Performance

Within the global effort to enable zero carbon emission flying, numerous approaches are being followed by aircraft manufacturers and the supply chain to provide according structures and systems. The dominant technology bricks like e.g. tanks and piping have to function under harsh conditions, operating at 20K over the complete lifespan of an aircraft. Today there is no knowledge basis exisiting to provide answers to the question if the selected materials or -combinations will perform or not. We cannot just follow the well trodden paths of material characterisation here for both metallic and composite substrates, but have to elaborate and validate relevant physical testing methods starting on coupon level (L6). This presentation intends to give an overview how Airbus is tackling this challenge, which basic tests are already carried out for metal- and composite testing, and which "white spots" in the testing pyramide are still to be filled with accepted and verified test methods.