Find Articles in:
All
Business
Reference
Technology
News
Lifestyle

Manufacturing Industry

Structural casting for aircraft

Manufacturing Engineering, Jul 2000

In aircraft design, cast aluminum has been limited to noncritical components because of strength problems. Where aluminum is used in structural components, the parts are fabricated from a number of elements, which is often a costly manufacturing process.

The US Navy is working with the National Center for Excellence in Metalworking Technology to develop structural aluminum castings. Researchers are looking at a variety of technologies, including sand and investment casting, microstructure evaluation, and rapid prototyping. If technology allows a move to more load-bearing cast-aluminum aircraft parts, production costs would be significantly reduced. For example, it is estimated that casting aircraft fuselages in one piece would cut costs by about 30%.

Companies involved include Boeing (St. Louis) Howmet Aluminum (Hillsboro, TX and Teledyne Cast Parts (Pomona, CA).

It is hoped that the research will result in parts that can be used on the F/A-18E/F as well as other aircraft. Circle 327.

Copyright Society of Manufacturing Engineers Jul 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
 

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

The following tags are supported in BNET comments:
<b></b> <i></i> <u></u> <pre></pre>

Leave a Reply

  1. You are currently a guest | Login?
advertisement
Go
advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement