HELEN MORRISSEY
Alcoa has gone from strength to strength, becoming not only the world's leading aluminium producer but also a leading entity in the development of advanced alloys.
From its involvement in the Wright Brothers' first flight 100 years ago, Alcoa's aerospace division has grown steadily, expanding out of North America to establish a European presence in the early 1960s.
Recent acquisitions including British Aluminium, Huck Fasteners and Howmet Castings have enabled Alcoa to expand its capabilities and become a major player in the aerospace industry.
"Alcoa's emphasis on applications represents a real desire to learn and speak our customers' language," says Patrick Hassey, executive vice president, Alcoa and group president, Alcoa Industrial Components.
"The addition of Howmet and Huck significantly expand our product base and give us the capacity to function more effectively than ever before as a supplier of integrated solutions."
Alcoa's aerospace division is divided into five business units:
Alcoa Engineered Aerospace Products, which manufactures extrusions for aerospace applications including wing ribs and floor structures Alcoa Mill Products, which supplies aluminium sheet and plate primarily used in fuselage and wing skins for commercial and military aircraft Alcoa Wheel and Forged Products, which provides structural solutions in aluminium, titanium, magnesium and nickel-based alloys Alcoa Howmet Castings, a leading producer of high-grade investment castings such as turbine rotors and nozzle rings for aerospace and industrial gas turbines Alcoa Huck Fasteners, which supplies blind bolts and lockbolts used in the build-up of airframes, wings and tails.Alcoa sees close working relationships with clients as the key to delivering innovative solutions. Technical and commercial alliances with manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing have enabled Alcoa to work toward developing alloys and forging aircraft parts, striking the balance between improved performance at reduced weight and cost.
Result
The result of such alliances is that Alcoa is responsible for the development of 95% of the alloys used in today's aerospace industry.
The Airbus partnership dates to the 1980s with Alcoa providing technical input in all Airbus aircraft programmes including the A300/A310, A320 and A330/A340. The company was also involved in developing advanced alloys and concurrent engineering programmes for the A340-500/600.
The alliance has also seen the evolution of the Lockbolt, the lightest high-strength titanium fastener in the world. Alcoa is currently working on the UAB Blind Bolt, a fastener with 50% more grip overlap than predecessors so it will not vibrate loose.
Further cooperation between the two companies was shown with the creation of the Airbus-Alcoa Fuselage and Wing Integrated Products Team for the A380 superjumbo. This is Alcoa's largest and fastest development programme, calling for three new alloys within three years to forge spars, upper wing and fuselage skins. Features of these alloys include a combination of high damage tolerance with reduced weight and manufacturing costs, produced at sizes significantly beyond those previously required.
Other ongoing projects include the Boeing C-17 winglet and Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) as well as Lockheed Martin's C-130 Hercules.
The C-17 winglet is a single forged structure based on an advanced Alcoa alloy. The product has five components and fewer than 1,000 fasteners as opposed to the baseline composite structure containing 258 parts and almost 4,000 fasteners. Alcoa hopes this may reduce manufacturing costs by as much as 40% with minimal weight gain.
Specialist
Alcoa has an advanced approach to the development of alloys, with specialist teams working with clients long term to seek out emerging technologies and evaluate advanced materials and manufacturing processes.
"This process can take as long as seven years," says Hassey. "However, Alcoa has recently cut this time by more than half by effectively working through Integrated Product Teams and calling upon core technology building blocks to telescope the development. Today we can commercialise new products at speeds unheard of just a few years ago."
New products including Alcoa's Fortress Cockpit Door demonstrate this principle. The armoured, reinforced door has been taken from concept to reality in seven months at a competitive price. Alcoa is currently seeking certification for this from the FAA and JAA.
Similarly, the development, manufacture and delivery of a product such as the A380 Inner Rear Spar would historically take 52 weeks; this time has now been cut to 24 weeks.
The future is looking bright for Alcoa's aerospace division. Says Hassey: "I think we can convince our customers that we are just beginning to harness the full potential of Alcoa's aerospace metallic technologies to help them build safe, reliable and affordable aircraft."
Source: Flight Daily News
