Materials mature

The growth of air travel has always been dependent on the development of materials technology for structures and engines.

The conflicting needs of aerospace design and production are particularly apparent in a sector that has to balance many demanding aspects, including weight and ownership costs together with ease of manufacture. It also embraces a broad design spectrum, from general aviation, to UAV, to mililtary and commercial aircraft such as the F-35 and A380, to space vehicles.

The emergence over the past two decades of increasingly effective and reliable electronic systems capable of supporting and enhancing aerospace materials design, development, production, and in-service performance have led to significant advances and opened the way to potential developments that once would have been regarded as purely fanciful.