C130s May Use New Aluminum Composite

Based on the headlines, it may seem like aircraft construction is racing toward plastic composites, with little hope left for aluminum. Well, don’t tell that to the aluminum guys. As reported here previously, Alcoa has been developing new alloys, composites and designs. There’s another to report now: scientists at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have received a patent for a fiber metal laminate (FML) called CentrAl reinforced aluminum. The structure includes aluminum alloys, adhesives and poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide threads. It has better tensile strength than alloys, and also boasts good metal fatigue and damage tolerance characteristics. And get this: a wing made from the composite would be one-fifth lighter than a wing made from plastic composites. The new composite has thicker laminate layers than the Glare used in the Airbus A380. The Air Force may use the material to replace wing sections in C130s. Development partners are Alcoa and GTM Advanced Structures.