Spacecraft sustained load fracture control

Sustained load fracture control is a problem of particular importance for manned spacecraft and orbital stations, owing to the long design lives and limited opportunities for repair. The current ESA approach Is based on screening out materials shown to be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) from smooth specimen tests. This approach...

Damage tolerance and durability evaluation of aluminium-lithium alloys

New impetus to continued use of alximinium alloys in major structural areas of aircraft has been given by the development of aluminium-lithium alloys. However, qualification of these new materials for service requires extensive testing and evaluation, preferably in international cooperative programmes. The evaluation of aluminium-lithium alloys...

Engineering property comparisons of PM and IM aluminium alloy forgings

Engineering properties of the PM alloy 7091-T7E69 and the IM alloys 7075-T73, 7175-T736, 7010-T736 and 7050-T736 were compared. The properties considered were strength, fracture toughness, fatigue strength, fatigue crack propagation resistance under constant amplitude and spectrum loading, stress corrosion crack initiation and propagation...

Aluminium alloys for advanced structural applications in transport aircraft

This paper concisely reviews and discusses (1) metallurgically cleaner alloys like -2124, 2048 and 7475, (2) potential application of 7000 series alloys in tension panels, (3) development of high strength stress corrosion resistant thick section materials like 7010, 7049 and 705O, (4) powder metallurgy 7000 series alloys with high strength and...