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Contact:

Cristina Alberdi

INASMET

Contact details:

calberdi@inasmet.es

(+34) 943 003668

2003/10/7

Composite materials in aeronautics

The interest sparked by airspace themes has once again brought together, in the Basque city of Donostia-San Sebastián, representatives of the main European enterprises in these sectors to deal with the applications of innovative materials capable of providing greater safety, longer life and increased wear to aircraft parts and components. Airspace sector experts from companies such as Sener, EADS-Airbus, CESA, amongst others, came together to analyse the applications of composite materials (composites).

The seminar which took place at INASMET turned on the innovations which have been made possible in the airspace sector by metallic matrix composites based on aluminium, steel and titanium. Some of the applications of these materials are used, for example, in the static components of helicopter engines and in landing gear activating mechanisms and other components.

The advantages of using such materials centres around aspects such as their greater rigidity and resistance, compatible with reducing weight, as well as the fact they suffer less wear and tear and less fatigue from operating. All these aspects are related to demands for greater safety levels and for lower consumption of energy and costs of maintenance and risk prevention, so important nowadays in air transport.

From a technical viewpoint, metallic matrix composites are materials made up of a metallic matrix (alloy of aluminium, steel or titanium) combined with ceramic reinforcement elements (in the form of particles or of short or long fibres), and which results in a significant enhancement in mechanical properties and possibilities. Also, the composite materials can be designed to fit the enhanced properties required for a given application, according to the type of applied reinforcement and to the final composition in the metal matrix.