Method for making an aerospace structural member

US5865914A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Aluminum Company of America · US

Inventors

• Lynette M. Karabin · Ruffs Dale, US
• John Liu · Murrysville, US
• Allison S. Warren · Pittsburgh, US
• Gary H. Bray · Murrysville, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 11, 1997
• Grant date: Feb 2, 1999
• Expiry date: Aug 11, 2017

Classification

• Technology area (CPC C): Chemistry; Metallurgy
• CPC primary: C22C21/16
• WIPO field: Materials, metallurgy
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

There is claimed a lower wing structure for a commercial jet aircraft which includes a substantially unrecrystallized rolled plate member made from an aluminum alloy consisting essentially of about 3.6 to 4.0 wt. % copper, about 1.0 to 1.6 wt. % magnesium, about 0.3 to 0.7 wt. % manganese, about 0.05 to 0.25 wt. % zirconium, the balance aluminum and incidental elements and impurities. On a preferred basis, the alloy products of this invention include very low levels of both iron and silicon, typically on the order of less than 0.1 wt. % each, and more preferably about 0.05 wt. % or less iron and about 0.03 wt. % or less silicon. This alloy composition may be rolled to form lower wing skin plates and extruded or rolled to form wing box stringers therefrom.