From the early wood-and-fabric biplanes to today’s expansive double-decker jets, aerospace products have always relied on advanced materials to work properly. To meet the challenges of high-altitude flight, increasingly advanced materials –strong, lightweight, and heat-resistant –are needed for aircraft, helicopters, and rockets as aviation technology progresses. By partnering with materials companies that produce state-of-the-art alloys and composites, aerospace engineers are able to design amazing aircraft.
Metals – Lightweight Strength for Key Components
Aerospace products require extremely durable yet lightweight metallic parts to handle the immense stresses of soaring skyward. Aluminum alloys strike an optimal balance between density, corrosion resistance, ease of fabrication and cost for medium-duty sections like fuselage skins and frames. For the most strained areas like wings, landing gear and turbines though, strong steels, titanium or nickel alloys are essential.
Manufacturers precision forge turbine engine rotors from rugged nickel-chrome superalloys specially engineered to withstand scorching temperatures and 20,000 RPM speeds. At the opposite end, landing gear struts leveraging high-strength chromoly steel alloys reliably absorb the entire weight of loaded aircraft smacking runways and wings switch between hardened aluminum and titanium members to distribute extreme upward bending forces.
Only through decades of materials advancements can such exotic yet reliable metals take flight repeatedly.
Composites Enable Complex Shapes and Savings
Besides traditional metals, modern aviation also relies heavily on composite materials for enhanced performance. Reinforced polymers like epoxy resins binding carbon fiber sheets or filaments create incredibly rigid structures rivaling aluminum strength, but with substantial weight savings. This enables larger payloads and fuel economy.
Aerospace composites companies like Axiom Materials mold intricately shaped cones, fairings, cowlings, empennages and radomes from composites that seamlessly meld function with airflow. Smooth curved composite covers facilitate radar transparency or tolerate surface heating when wrapping antennae or engine parts. Such complex geometries integrated flawlessly as structural components optimize aerodynamic handling.
Another area where advanced composites make an impact is by enabling additive manufacturing and 3D printing of end-use flyable components. Aerospace companies leverage custom filaments with embedded carbon fiber strands to 3D print lightweight brackets, clips, ducts and support structures. This rapid prototyping method quicky iterates parts with organic contours and bionic interior lattices rivaling the strength and stiffness of milled aluminum but at half the weight. Printed composites bypass the intensive labor of hand laying composite sheets into molds making small batch production economical. The ease of experimenting with digitally printable thermoplastic composites unlocks faster design improvements on auxiliary systems.
Better Materials Unlock Innovation Opportunities
Constant materials advancements allow implementation of previously unfathomable concepts. Blended wing body (BWB) prototype aircraft with no clear fuselage/wing distinction derive structural integrity from epoxy/carbon fiber matrix skins over foam cores. Such exotic shapes balance lift and weight savings thanks to mature composites manufacturing.
Rocket scientists also harness nanotechnology when coating spacecraft and launch vehicle components with microscopic layering that provides insulation or electrostatic control unachievable previously. Tiny ceramic nanospheres layered across antennae prevent electric arcing by equalizing surface charges without changing RF characteristics. This enables stable satellite data transmission near Earth’s ionosphere despite exterior electrical havoc.
These radical innovations underscore how unlocking new material abilities opens fresh opportunities for the aerospace industry.
Conclusion
Pioneering work by materials scientists and composites engineers grants aerospace companies immense latitude when designing the next generation of high performance aircraft, helicopters and spacecraft. Through the constant discovery and creation of increasingly strong, heat-tolerant, electronic-capable and extraordinarily lightweight substances, engineers implement far more ambitious designs. The synergy between materials innovation and aerospace progress propels efficiency, capability and reliability gains benefiting companies and travelers worldwide. This symbiosis shows no sign of slowing as researchers reveal even more astonishing materials breakthroughs for tomorrow’s boundary-pushing flying machines.
