Neue Aluminiumlegierungen für die Luftfahrt

New construction methods for airframes, such as a welded fuselage, permit cutting production costs and weight by about 15 % each. The perequisite for this method of construction is the availability of weldable Al materials and the correspondingly efficient joining methods. A suitable allaoy is 6013. Potential joining methodes are laser beam or soldering. The specific light and stiffer AlLi alloys offer a further potential for weight reduction of up to 10%. Iver the past 10 years, considerable efforts have been udertaken to replace conventional, nonweldable Al 2024 by likely nonweldable AlLi materials. Howerver, for economic reasons as well, these inovative materials have not proved a succes. The situation is a different one with regard to incorporating innovative materials with new construction methods for the welded fuselage. Russian scientists have developed a weldable AlLi alloy which, used in the MiG29 yielded weight reduction of up to 24%. In order to apply such materials in European commercial aviation as well, they must be developed further and adapted to satisfy the requirements. Political changes in Europe permit of close cooperation with scientists at Russian research instituts. Weldable AlLi materials are being developed further as part of collaboration. The status of this development is to be presented and discussed.