In terms of air-breathing turbines, there really wasn’t anything available in the thrust class needed. The military’s demand for high-speed target drones drove advances in metal alloys for building lightweight turbines. Improved nickel alloys made turbine wheels stronger and allowed them to withstand higher temperatures without distorting

Functioning rocket packs were featured in 1960s-era TV shows such as “Gilligan’s Island” and “Lost in Space,” and James Bond donned a Bell Rocket Belt in 1965 to escape villains in “Thunderball.” But the flight duration for such compact machines — a class of aircraft called individual lift devices, or ILDs — was measured in seconds, and their fuel source was exotic. Breakthroughs in the past decade in miniaturization of electronics and the casting of advanced nickel alloys, however, have radically altered key technologies needed for developing practical, useful ILDs. JetPack Aviation in California expects to have a full-scale ILD prototype ready for initial flight testing by Continue reading→

France’s Délégation Générale pour l’Armement (DGA) has granted Safran a 2019-2024 contract of €115 million ($131 million) to study the architecture of the combustor and high-pressure turbine of the new engine. Thrust will be higher than that of the M88, so Safran will have to design new alloys for blades able to resist temperatures of over 2,000 degrees C, compared with the 1,850 degrees currently encountered in the M88. On photo The February 6 agreement between Safran and MTU was signed between the CEOs of the companies (seated), respectively Philippe Petitcolin (left) and Reiner Winkler (right). (Credit photo: Safran)

Safran Aircraft Engines (Safran Group) from France and the German MTU Aero Engines company announced on February 6 a partnership to jointly lead development of the engine that will power the next-generation combat aircraft. The program is part of the Système de Combat Aérien du Future (SCAF)/Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program. The announcement was made at one of the Safran Group’s sites at Gennevillers, near Paris, in the presence of the French and German Ministers of Defense, Florence Parly and Continue reading→

HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation, working separately with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and JFE Steel Corporation, has developed the world’s first cold-stamped vehicle body parts made from 1,310 MPa-class high-strength steel.¹ The parts are used in Mazda’s new-generation Skyactiv-Vehicle Architecture, which will underpin upcoming models starting from the all-newContinue reading→

The US Air Force (USAF) has installed a metallic 3D printed aircraft part on an operational F-22 Raptor fighter. The 3D aircraft printed part was installed by 574th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron maintainers during depot maintenance at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. 574th AMXS director Robert Lewin said: “One of the most difficult things to overcome in the F-22 community, because of the small fleet size, is the availability of additional parts to support the aircraft.” The printed part is designed to replace a corrosion-prone aluminium Continue reading→

According to a recent report, a few scientists from Bremen are involved in a project to further develop aluminium alloys for additive manufacturing, with an intention to exploit the lightweight construction potential of aluminium in the aerospace industry. (On photo Peter Sander, 3D printing expert at Airbus – credit photo @Airbus)

This one of the start-up projects for the Bremen Research and Development Centre for Lightweight Materials and Technologies Ecomat is funded by the Bremen Aerospace Research Program 2020 with around one million euros. The companies involved are Ariane Group, Airbus, Materialise and Innojoin, as well as scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Material-Oriented Technologies (IWT) and the Continue reading→

Plus durs, plus légers, plus résistants aux rayures, aux chocs et à la corrosion, les nouveaux matériaux s’imposent dans plusieurs collections horlogères dévoilées au SIHH 2019. Revue de détail de ces alliages et matières inspirées par l’aéronautique ou les technologies du secteur médical.

Parce que le temps qui passe est sans doute le pire ennemi d’une montre, parce qu’il orchestre la détérioration programmée de sa beauté originelle, les horlogers s’évertuent à éviter sa morsure en développant des matériaux toujours plus innovants. Chocs répétés ? Corrosion ou rayures ? Dans leur rêve d’éternité, horlogers et ingénieurs esquivent. Leur secret : conjuguerContinue reading→

Graduate student Maximilian Sokoluk; laboratory mechanician Travis Widick, holding a demonstration bike frame welded using aluminum alloy 7075; and Professor Xiaochun Li.

Super-strong but lightweight, AA 7075 now could be more widely used in automobiles and other manufacturing thanks to UCLA research.

An aluminum alloy developed in the 1940s has long held promise for use in automobile manufacturing, except for one key obstacle. Although it’s nearly as strong as steel and just one-third the weight, it is almost impossible to weld together using the technique commonly used to assemble body panels or engine parts. That’s because when the alloy is heated during welding, its molecular structure Continue reading→

Coût, facilité d’emploi, faible perte et propriétés mécaniques : Elon Musk ne voit que des avantages dans l’acier inoxydable.

C’est le 11 janvier qu’a été présentée la nouvelle fusée de SpaceX, celle qui succédera à terme aux deux lanceurs actuels de l’entreprise, le Falcon 9 et le Falcon Heavy. Son look résolument rétro a immédiatement fait penser à la fusée dont se sert Tintin pour se rendre sur la Lune. Mais plus que son aspect général, ce sont les choix d’ingénierie de SpaceX qui interpellent. L’entreprise américaine a en effet renoncé à une conception en fibre de carbone. À la place, elle utilise désormais un alliage spécial à base d’acier inoxydable. Celui-ci est utilisé aussi bien pour la fusée Starship (nom donné au véhicule spatial ainsi qu’à l’étage supérieur) que pour le booster Super Heavy (qui constitue le premier étage de l’engin). Il peut sembler bien étrange de voir une entreprise comme SpaceX, pourtant en pointe dansContinue reading→

Allison Beese, assistant professor of materials sciences and engineering at Penn State, sits in front of the control panel during her experimentation with 3D Inconel 635 at Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An undesirable trait found in traditionally processed superalloys does not exist in a 3D-printed, nickel-based superalloy, according to a team of materials scientists who think this could lead to new manufacturing techniques that allow for alloys with tailored properties.  The trait, called dynamic strain aging (DSA), occurs in metals at high temperatures subjected to stress. In conventionally processed materials, if DSA is present, the strength of the material fluctuates with applied deformation, resulting inContinue reading→