Aerospace industry seeks material returns

Better use of materials data can pay off for aerospace designers.

Aircraft, like everything else, are made of materials. But airframes, engines, and aerospace components offer particular materials challenges. Designers must extract every last drop of performance from their constituent alloys, composites, ceramics, and plastics, while avoiding risk.

Capturing, managing, and applying data on the properties of materials is vital to this battle. Yet, rather than being seen as a resource for enhancing products and, ultimately, profitability, materials data is often viewed as a problem by aerospace organizations struggling to deal with its complexities. In 2002, a consortium of industry leaders set out to transform this situation. Their efforts are beginning to pay off.