Tag: fatigue resistance

Folding, thinner, lighter, and stronger wings signals a quiet retreat for aluminium in aerospace

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ Leave a comment

Airbus has just announced the next phase of its Wing of Tomorrow programme: a three-year flight-test campaign, unveiled at Farnborough, that will bolt full-scale wing extensions onto an A321neo to trial the longer, higher-aspect-ratio wings destined for the successor to its best-selling single-aisle family. The extensions are several metres long and stand in for a … Continue reading Folding, thinner, lighter, and stronger wings signals a quiet retreat for aluminium in aerospace

New recycling processes or new materials?

~ Matheus A. Tunes ~ Leave a comment

The sustainability debate in materials science sometimes asks the wrong questions. How do we recycle more aluminium & steel? These are legitimate — but they treat recyclability/sustainability as an afterthought, forcing materials never designed for circularity back into something useful at considerable cost and energy penalty: facts that Europe, specially, cannot anymore afford. The presence … Continue reading New recycling processes or new materials?