Aluminium Alloys Solutions for Wings of the Next Generation

In a context where aircraft production remains high, the challenge posed by increased environmental concerns requires efforts in all relevant domains to improve sustainability of the whole aircraft life cycle. On the structural side, wings of high build rate A320 and B737 are mostly made out of conventional aluminium alloys. For the next generation of wing structures, a new set of Aluminium – Copper – Lithium Airware® alloys with reduced density versus conventional alloys has been developed. The combination with advanced joining techniques and their improved manufacturability offers weight savings on the wing box of the order of 10-15% at competitive costs.

On the material side, the lower wing skins are particularly important for the overall wing performance, since they account for the larger weight share. AW236, the new lower wing Al-Cu-Li Airware® solution (TRL 6 maturity) is a key enabler of the next generation metallic wing, with -5% in density and +35% in spectrum fatigue lifetime compared to advanced conventional 2xxx solutions. Advanced metallic materials solutions for stringers and upper wing skins are also under development.

The improved performance of Airware alloys can also be exploited within new wing design concepts such as high aspect ratio wings. Aluminium alloys are well suited to concepts involving out of plane loads, such as truss-braced wings. In addition, aeroelastic tailoring of wing covers has been demonstrated to be achievable using smart designs, playing on rib orientation and sub-stiffening in particular.

All alloy options including Airware® are fully recyclable, which along with their light weighting potential makes these materials a strong asset for a more environment friendly aircraft industry.