What Types of Aluminum Alloys Used in Aerospace Applications | Aerospace Grade Aluminum

As early as the 19th century, aluminum was used in aerospace. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin made his hydrogen-filled airship from aluminum. The Wright brothers used an aluminum engine cylinder in their first manned flight in 1903. They found that metals can be strengthened by heating. Many metals, including iron and aluminum, will form atoms if heated and cooled rapidly, a more orderly crystalline structure, which makes them very corrosion-resistant. Aluminum is still the most used metal in modern aerospace applications because of its high strength, low density, and corrosion resistance. 

Aluminum in the aerospace industry is almost always used with other metals to form alloys. Sometimes a small part of the added metal will significantly change the properties of the alloy. Most metals begin to decompose when exposed to oxygen. When exposed to oxygen, the combination of heat and oxygen is almost always destructive, aluminum will form a layer of aluminum oxide, namely Al2O3, which exists in the mineral corundum in crystalline form. Corundum is transparent, but natural impurities such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, and magnesium will turn these crystals into red, blue, green, or other colors. We call them ruby, sapphire, and emerald. The top layer of this transparent alumina is formed on aluminum alloy, making it very corrosion-resistant. In fact, The aerospace industry is very pleased to find this transparent aluminum. Nitrogen alumina is formed by fusing aluminum oxide and nitrogen under pressure with a laser to remove electrons and chemically bond. The resultant material is transparent metal, which makes the window and telescope shield used in space excellent because it is stronger and lighter than glass or any other plastic-based alternative. Aluminum alloys used in aerospace over the last 70 years include the alloys 2014, 2219, 7050, and 7055. Aerospace CNC machining at Junying offers high-standard parts with a variety of dimensions and specifications. 

– 2014 Aluminum Alloy: an aluminum-based alloy often used in the aerospace industry. 2014 is the second popular alloy of the 2000-series, only after Al 2024. Typical applications of aluminum 2014 are heavy-duty forgings, plates, and extrusions for aerospace fittings, wheels, tanks, and major structural components.

– 2219 Aluminum Alloy: 2219 is an alloy in the wrought aluminum-copper family, it has high strength, but is generally less corrosion resistant than other types of aluminum alloys. The excellent structural strength, high fracture toughness and resistance to stress corrosion cracking make it be widely used in supersonic aircraft skin and structural members. The space shuttle external tanks are also made from aluminum 2195, which replaced the 2219 aluminum-copper alloy. The newer alloy 2050 may be even better than 2195 currently used by space with improved tensile strength and fracture toughness.

– 7050 Aluminum Alloy: 7050 is known as a commercial aerospace alloy, with high toughness, high strength, and high-stress corrosion resistance. When it comes to the aerospace uses of aluminum 7075, you can find it is often used to make fuselage frames, bulkheads, and various other aircraft parts. Al 7075 is available in T7451 and T7651 tempers. 

– 7055 Aluminum Alloy: 7055 is heat treatable wrought aluminum alloy that is usually applied for use in the aerospace sector and other high strength requirement areas. It provides high ultimate tensile strength. 7055-T77511 is specially developed for compression-dominated structures. 

Other aerospace-grade aluminum alloys including 2024 (2024-T3, 2024-T4/T351, 2024-T851), 6061, 5052, etc.