Aluminium supplier Alcoa is pursuing a cost and weight reduction programme to enable it to compete more effectively with composite aerospace materials. The company's "20-20" strategic initiative is aiming to reduce the cost and weight of aluminium by 20% each over the next two decades, and some of the initial alloys will fly on the Airbus A380.
Alcoa Aerospace president automotive and commercial transportation, William Christopher, says the benefits will be realised by a combination of high performance aluminiums and more intelligently designed structures.
Alcoa is developing software that looks at structural requirements and rapidly evaluates the most efficient structural shapes. It cites its Boeing C-17 winglet concept, in which the use of one-piece forging technology reduced parts count from 258 to seven and saved weight. Christopher says Alcoa hopes to commercialise the design next year. "We are also proposing a forged integrated door structure for the A380," he says.
Alcoa suffered a blow when Boeing confirmed it would use a primarily composite structure for its 7E7, but Christopher is still confident of significant involvement.
Source: Flight International
