Paper number 590

PROGRESS & PROMISE IN DISCONTINUOUSLY REINFORCED ALUMINUM

Benji Maruyama and Daniel B. Miracle

Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate
WPAFB, OH 45433

Summary

A number of recent successful applications of DRA will be discussed. The first, the F-16 Falcon's ventral fins provide lateral stability during high angle of attack maneuvers. They were originally made from aluminum alloy sheets bonded to honeycomb cores. The low stiffness of the aluminum skins combined with in-flight buffeting caused the ventral fins to fail after only 400 hours on average - sometimes shearing off in flight. DRA, because it offers 40% increased stiffness over aluminum at essentially the same density, was a good candidate to reduce the deflections.

Keywords

ALMMC's, metal matrix composites, technology transition, application, aerospace, transportation, electronics, consortium.