In recent years, castable aluminum alloys reinforced with silicon carbide particulate have undergone rapid commercialization, due to benefits in automobiles, sporting goods and industrial equipment. Aerospace companies are now attempting to leverage the commercial development of this type of metal matrix composite (MMC) into advantages for aircraft and missile applications. In some cases, the higher strength and stiffness of discontinuously reinforced aluminum (DRA) castings can allow weight reductions by redesigning and replacing monolithic aluminum alloy castings and machined assemblies. Unlike the powder metallurgy DRA's that have historically attracted greater interest from the defense community, cast DRA's have raw material and manufacturing costs that are comparable to conventional monolithic aluminum components. A technology demonstration study was performed to determine the feasibility of using a cast DRA alloy in a production aerospace application. Large DRA sand castings were produced using the same mold patterns being used for production of the A357 Tomahawk missile mid-body payload section. A demonstration article underwent metallurgical evaluation and non-destructive evaluation, and was sectioned for extensive mechanical property data basing. Estimated design strength allowables were calculated for comparison with allowables derived from separately cast test bars of the same alloy. This paper describes the results of design allowable studies and an analysis for a potential F/A18 aircraft DRA casting. The performance and cost benefits that this new class of MMC's offers to military airframe applications has been confirmed. Implementation of cast DRAs in production applications can begin, once manufacturing and inspection standards for aerospace-grade components are developed.
Cast aluminum MMC's for affordable military airframe components
Gießen von Aluminiumverbundwerkstoffen für Komponenten der Flugzeugzelle von Militärflugzeugen
1995
5 Seiten, 8 Bilder, 2 Tabellen, 6 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
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