Casting a vote for alloys

Bringing lighter weight, improved performance, and enhanced repairability to airframes and engines.

A casual observer would be forgiven for thinking that metal no longer had a place on airplanes, given all the publicity that Boeing has received for its “all-composite” 787. But like Mark Twain, who wrote in 1897 that reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated, the advanced metals industry is alive and well and has never been more innovative and essential.

The all-composite 787 is, in fact, far from a plastic plane. The same is true for the worlds newest military fighter-Lockheed Martin‘ s F-35-which has an aluminum and titanium internal structure underlying the exterior composite skin.