2022

Materials (1)
lecture 08b – nonFerrous Alloys
Dr. Janusz Bucki, PhD, MSEng, CEng

Wołoska 141, room 308, 02-507 Warszawa

janusz.bucki@pw.edu.pl

Warsaw, 2022/23

Copper and copper-based alloys

Copper Cu

Tm = 1085oC
ρ = 8.889 g/cm 2
λ = 411 W/m·K - thermal conductivity
σ = 59.77 MS/m - electrical conductivity

Brasses are the alloys in which zinc is a predominant alloying element

One-phase brasses
(max. 32%Zn -very good plasticity at RT, cold worked)

Cartridge brass is used for automotive radiator cores,

ammunition components, lamp fixtures, kick plates

Two-phase brasses
(> 32%Zn -very good plasticity at 300-700oC, warm worked)
Used as furniture hardware, radiator fittings, battery clamps etc.

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CuZn39Al1Fe1Mn1 – used in aircraft industry

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Tin bronze
Good wear resistant alloy used for:
slide bearings, toothed wheels, springs etc. Beryllium bronze
Can be heat treated (precipitation hardening)
Used for: membranes, springs, electric contacts

Do not create sparks (used in production of explosives)

weight weight
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Aluminum bronzes
Aluminum bronzes containing > 9.4% Al.
can be hardened by quenching from ~900oC
Temperature (°C) and tempering at 300-450oC

Temperature (°C)
Mass % Al

Mass % Al

Application: heat exchangers, shafts, hydraulic elements,

parts of chemical apparatus, bellows,
valve seats, bushings, pins etc.
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Application of aluminum and aluminum alloys

25% 20%

9% 20%

26%

Structures
Konstrukcje Packages
Opakowania Transport
Transport Electronics
Elektronika Others
Inne

World production in 2019: 63.7 million tonnes (2015: 57.9, 2010: 42.4, 2005: 31.9, 2000: 24.7, 1995: 19.6)
http://www.world-aluminium.org/statistics
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World production of aluminum and aluminium alloys

(2019 data, thousand metric tonnes)

http://www.world-aluminium.org/statistics/ accessed 2020.11.25 7

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Data from Metals Handbook

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EN AC-21000, 21100 EN AW- 2024 , 2017 EN AW-5010

Rocking lever (Audi A8) Car body (Aston Martin V12)

EN AW-5352

Body frame elements

Engine frame (Audi A8) (Citroën C5, Audi A8)

Spatial frames
(Audi A2)

EN-AC 44400

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Engine pistons (Audi) Engine frame (Audi A8) Cylinder head cover (Audi)

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Aluminum foams

Acoustic isolations

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Door and bumper filling

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Decreasing usage of aluminium alloys in planes

Materials used in Boeing planes

Boeing 787 Dreamliner skin structure

Materials used in Airbus planes

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Al-Li alloys
Very good stiffness

Forepart of fuselage: Central part of fuselage:

Skin: A, B, C Skin: A, B, C
Internal parts: D Frames: C, D

A-2090
B-2092
C-8090 (Al-Li alloy)
D- superplastically deformed

Wing structure: Control surfaces:

Skin: A, C Skin: A, B, C
Frames: D Internal parts: A, B, C
Airfoil spars: composites Forged accessories: C

Defense fighter plane: high speed ---> high temperatures 13

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Magnesium alloys
Magnesium as pure metal and its alloys are explosive hazards; they are highly flammable in their pure form
when molten or in powder or in ribbon form. Burning or molten magnesium metal reacts violently with water.
Historically, magnesium was one of the main aerospace construction metals and was used for German
military aircraft as early as World War I and extensively for German aircraft in World War II (elektron).

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Magnesium alloys

Mg-Li alloys: low density, good stiffness, low sensitivity to acting of notches, good resistance to
penetration by meteorites, good damping capacity.
Mg-Li alloys can be cold worked.
Used for high loaded aircraft and rocket parts
and aircraft as well as helicopter skins.

N. Rahulan et al.Mechanical behavior of Mg-Li-Al

alloys, Materials Today: Proceedings, v.5, i.9, p.3, 2018

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Massalski T B, Okamoto H, Subramanian P R, Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams. Ohio: ASM International, 1990

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•The best σy/ρ

• High resistance to corrosion
Titanium alloys
• High plasticity World production in 2011: 186.000 ton
• Good weldability
• Good biocompatibility
• Rigidity lower than for aluminum alloys (but can be Materials in Boeing 767 and 787
increased in honeycomb structure) From 1982 From 2011
• React with air at >500oC, and burn at 1200oC
• Price 8-times higher than steels
Ti-alloys→ 95% mass SR-71 Blackbird
(3 Mach, 26 000 m)
70% mass saving in comparison to superalloys

https://www.badania-nieniszczace.info/Badania-Nieniszczace-Nr-01-08-
2008/Ref_Stachowiak.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGPX4uTdsas5AD-vb8m12a5BFGq7g

1 – alpha alloys
beta 2 – pseudo-alpha alloys (<6% beta)
3 – alpha + beta alloys (can be quench
alpha +beta hardened)
4 - alpha + beta alloys (beta rich) can
alpha be quench hardened
5 - metastable titanium alloys can be
Concentration of elements stabilizing beta phase solution heat treated
α - hcp α stabilizers: Al, O, N, C. 6 – beta alloys (stable)
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β - bcc β stabilizers: Mo, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mn, Fe, W, H 7 – intermetallics (TiAl, Ti3Al)

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Alpha alloys, and pseudo-alpha alloys

•Good strength in ambient and elevated temperature
•Good weldability
•Good resistance to oxidation and to corrosion
•Good thermal stability

Pseudo-alpha alloys:
Ti-6242S (Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo-0.09Si) can work at 540oC
IMi834 and Ti-1100 till 600oC (Si increases creep resistance)

Applications:
•compressor blades and discs
•Structure elements of the airframes at engine and fuel tanks areas

Intermetallic-based alloys (alpha2 – Ti3Al and gamma - TiAl)

•Low density
•Melting point higher than superalloys
•High specific strength also at elevated temperatures
•High Young modulus
•Good resistance to oxidation
but: Applications:
•Low plasticity at room temperature •High pressure parts of aircraft compressor
•Low toughness •Parts of combustion chamber
•Elements of nozzles
•Internal structure elements of aircrafts
•Pipes of controlling systems 17

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Alpha alloys, pseudo-alpha and intermetallic-based alloys

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Alpha + beta alloys

70% of all produced Ti alloys
Contain β stabilizers (Mn, V, Mo, Cr, Fe), which poorly dissolve in α-phase which include
aluminum
Properties:
•Very good strength (also at elevated temperatures) much better than α-alloys
•Good plasticity (Ti-6-4 and Ti-6-22-22S can be superplastically formed at 875-900oC and
815-900oC with maximum elongation 1578 i 2000% correspondingly)
•Not so good thermal stability (problems in welding)

Application:
•Aircraft skins (Ti-6-4 and Ti-6-22-22S )
Bimodal structure assure Lamellar structure assure
•Forged elements of airframes (Ti-6-4 and Ti-6-22-22S ) better plasticity and low-cycle better creep resistance
fatigue resistance
•Skin parts superplastically formed
•Compressor blades, shields, pins and nozzles (working at 300oC)
•Hydraulic pipes for jet aircrafts (Ti-3Al-2.5V) – joined by tube coupling produced from
51.7Ni-44.9Ti-3.4Fe shape memory alloy
Ti-6Al-4V - the most widely used Ti alloy (65% of the all Ti alloys used worldwide)

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Titanium alloys

Application of Ti-6-4 alloy

Fan blades of Pratt & Whitney engine Blades and disks of GE R110-129 20
(forged skin, honeycomb structure inside) engine integrally bladed (blisk)

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F22 Raptor

•Length -18.9 m
•Wingspan – 13,56 m
•Height - 5m
•Empty weight - 19 700 kg
•Loaded weight – 29 300 kg
•Maximum speed - 2.25 Mach (2410 km/h)
•Range - 2960 km

Steel, aluminum alloys – 20%

Titanium alloys – 42%
Composites – 24%

Fuselage:
•Ti-6-4 - 36%
•Ti-6-22-22 – 3%
•Thermo-hardened composites – 24%
•Thermoplastic composites >1%
•Aluminum alloys - 16%
•Steels – 6% 21
•Others – 15%

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Beta alloys

•The highest specific strength (enable mass reduction)

•Very good combination of strength, fatigue strength and toughness
•Very good formability at room and elevated temperature
•Good elasticity (better than other Ti alloys)
•The best hardenability in comparison to other Ti alloys
•Good creep rupture strength
•Excellent resistance to corrosion
•Good workability
•Good weldability
•Rather low stiffness (69-76 GPa after supersaturation, 103-110 GPa after ageing)
•High costs
•Sharp technological conditions

Stable Ti-alloys are used in construction of airframes, elements of engines and hydraulic
pipes
Metastable Ti-alloys can be solution heat treated. They have a good plasticity after
hyper-quenching so are used for pins and rivets produced by cold working, and hardened
by ageing.

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Properties of beta stable and pseudo beta (metastable) Ti - alloys

Common Composition Alloy Density TS YS %EL

name [wt%] type [g/cm3] [MPa] [MPa] [%]

Beta-C - springs in landing gear elements, doors , brakes etc.

Ti-10-2-3 - high strength, forged elements - landing gear elements, fuselage, wings, doors
(McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Lynx, Bell, Eurocopter)
Ti-15-3 – elements produced from ribbons, brackets, fasteners etc. (good cold-working ability)
and for high strength castings
Beta 21S – compressor housing, nozzles and pivots of engines. Easy welded and machined
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Ti-10-2-3 alloy

Main mast of the helicopter Lynx

Capacity load - 56 ton

Beta-21S alloy

Landing gear elements of Boeing 777 produced

from 3 forgings, welded by electron beam

Gudgeon and nozzle of the Pratt & Whitney engine

Honeycomb structure inside 24

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Shape memory alloys

In some Ni-Ti martensitic transformation is structurally reversible and each atom can go back
to its original position in the high-temperature lattice after austenitizing (heating to
austenitizing temperature.) They are called as shape memory alloys and used for self-closing
rivets, self-erecting antennae, hydraulic pipes in the aircrafts).

For 49 at. % Ti – 51 at. % Ni:

Ms = -55oC, Mf = -90oC and As = -50oC, Af = -25oC

For 50 at. % Ti – 50 at. % Ni:

Ms = 50oC, Mf = 20oC and As = 55oC, Af = 75oC

δR = 300 ÷ 500 MPa, ε ≥ 15%

Before mounting of the pipes, the joiner is cooled at liquid nitrogen to obtain the martensitic
structure (the diameter of the joiner increase), then the temperature is increased to obtain
the austenitic structure (the diameter of the joiner decrease).
in LN

The rivet is deformed to obtain the needed shape (the arms are open). Before mounting the
rivets are quenched in liquid air or nitrogen and their arms are closed, then they are put into
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the aperture and increase the temperature to the room temperature.

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Influence of the environment on Ti- alloys

Resistance to oxidizing
The best are Gamma alloys (max. temperature 815oC)
Beta-21S is 4x less resistant but 100X better resistant than Ti-15-3
Covers are needed

Inflammation
All Ti-alloys are resistant to inflammation in air, but in gas turbine oxygen activity is higher
and can flame (especially thin areas of blades)
Cr (>11%, Cu (.10%, Fe, Mo, Ni, SI) increase resistant to inflammation
Only two β alloys: Ti-13-11-3 (Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al) and Alloy C (Ti-35V-15Cr) are resistant to
inflammation

Resistance to corrosion
All Ti-alloys are resistant to corrosion in salt water till 200oC
Resistance to corrosion in oxidizing acids (FeCl3, HNO3, etc) is good
Beta alloys have better than the other alloys resistance in HCl
Beta21S is very resistant to hydraulic liquids
All Ti-alloys have good resistance to fatigue corrosion
Beta alloys are more resistant to stress corrosion than the other Ti-alloys

Gamma and Beta alloys are more resistant to hydrogen than the others

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Titanium matrix composites

Increasing of the stiffness of Ti-alloys by ceramic fibers (usually SiC) reinforcement

To avoid reaction with the matrix SiC are covered with barrier coatings:
•HfC, ZrN, TiC, or
•surface layer is enriched with carbon (SCS-6) or
•boron fibers are covered with SiC (BORSIC)
Applications:
•Structural bars
•Structural elements of inner aircraft constructions
•Hydraulic pipes
•Rings for mounting blades of compressors

Example of production process used at GE :

Fine droplets of matrix alloy are deposited on the
fibers (using plasma method) and the coated fibers
are pressed at high temperature to obtain the
titanium matrix composite for mounting blades rings
of compressors 27

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