Category: Processing And Machining Of Aerospace Metals

The final stage in the fabrication of aircraft metal structures involves the machining operations of milling, routing, trimming and drilling. Metal components are rarely in their final shape at the end of processing, and it is necessary to remove excess material using a variety of machining processes. Increasingly, these processes are being carried out automatically…

Forging, extrusion, rolling and other working operations are used in the forming and shaping of aluminium, magnesium, titanium and steel structural components for aerospace applications. However, it is difficult to shape nickel-based superalloys for jet engine components using these same working operations. Superalloys are so-named because of their very high alloy content; typically 40–60% of…

Hot working Plastic forming of wrought metals by process operations such as forging, extrusion and rolling is performed under hot working or cold working conditions. Hot working is the plastic deformation and shaping of a metal above its recrystallisation temperature. A large number of dislocations are generated by strain hardening during the plastic forming of…

Forging Forging is a forming process used to strengthen and shape thick sections of cast metal. The process involves plastically deforming the metal under high compressive forces inside a die cavity, as shown in Fig. 7.2. Deformation usually occurs by repeated strokes or blows applied using hammers, mechanical presses or hydraulic presses. The metal is plastically deformed…

Metals are not used in their as-cast condition for safety-critical aircraft structures or load-bearing jet engine components. The use of cast metal in the primary structures of commercial airliners is virtually nonexistent, and it is used sparingly in military aircraft. Cast metals are used in a small number of nonstructural components on aircraft and helicopters,…