Survey of Candidate Aluminum Materials for Supersonic Aircraft Applications

Effects of elevated temperatures on four standard aluminum alloys, two aluminum powder metallurgy alloys, and a roll bonded sandwich of steel face sheets with an aluminum core are analyzed. New data are included for 2024-T81 exposed to elevated temperatures up to 70, 000 hr; creep and fatigue performance at long heating times are shown.

Buckling efficiencies of alloy 2020-T6, other high strength metals, and stainless clad aluminum are theoretically analyzed.

The paper concludes that available aluminum materials suffice for aircraft up to Mach 2.5 and that stainless clad aluminum and APM alloys can be used at temperatures up to 600 F.