Induction hardening of geared parts used in aeronautic and aerospace industry is an important technology because of its one-piece flow, repeatability, energy efficiency, and tighter control of surface distortion than conventional carburizing. This article describes the requirements and characteristics of induction hardening of transmission parts, such as bearings, shafts, and different types of gears, including bevel gears, spur wheel gears, helical gears, and splines. It provides information on process monitoring and the economic aspects of induction hardening.

This article reviews some of the trends in superalloy development as they relate to U.S. strategic materials availability and the aerospace industry. It discusses the supply sources and availability of strategic materials and summarizes the status of U.S. resources and reserves. The article presents a list of several superalloys that have been used in gas turbine engines or that are emerging as replacements because of the promise of increased operating temperatures and higher efficiencies for the aircraft of the future. It concentrates on the objectives, results, and methodology of the NASA Conservation of Strategic Aerospace Materials (COSAM) program.

This article discusses coating products available for use in the aerospace industry that are compliant with regulations requiring reductions in emissions from organic solvents. The coating products addressed include primers, topcoats, and chemical milling maskants. It describes their characteristics and limitations compared to conventional noncompliant materials. The article addresses the methods and products commonly used achieve regulatory compliance: waterborne coatings, exempt-solvent-based coatings, high-solids coatings, powder coating, and electro-deposition.

This article provides a discussion on the structural ceramics used in gas turbine components, the automotive and aerospace industries, or as heat exchangers in various segments of the chemical and power generation industries. It covers the fundamental aspects of chemical corrosion and describes the corrosion resistance characteristics of specific classes of refractories and structural ceramics. The article also examines the prevention strategies that minimize corrosion failures of both classes of materials.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a highly desired layer-by-layer fabrication process capable of creating near-net-shaped three-dimensional components for a wide range of industries, such as the automotive and aerospace industries. This article focuses on aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel alloys that are commonly used or highly desired for use with AM due to their widespread applicability and favorable mechanical properties. It presents an overview of two of the major AM processes: powder-bed and powder-fed. The article discusses processability using AM. It also provides an overview of material microstructures, defects, and the impact on mechanical behaviors.

This article is a brief guide to information sources on nondestructive testing (NDT). It provides examples of some of the standards bodies commonly used by NDT personnel. These include the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International, European Committee for Standardization (CEN), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), American Welding Society (AWS), American Petroleum Institute (API), and American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT). All of these organizations used industry subject-matter experts and a consensus process in the development of their codes and standards.

This article provides a discussion on the corrosion of industrial refractory materials and technical ceramics. These materials, which are used to minimize heat losses and provide a barrier between the vessel and its contents, are utilized in the metallurgical, chemical process, power generation, automotive, and aerospace industries. The article covers the fundamental principles of chemical corrosion of refractories and ceramics, and the use of thermodynamic calculations and kinetic models to evaluate the probability of the occurrence of corrosion-causing chemical reactions. It describes the corrosion resistance characteristics of specific classes of refractories and structural ceramics. The article also examines the prevention strategies that minimize corrosion failures of both classes of materials.

This article discusses the fundamental variables involved in fatigue-life assessment, which describe the effects and interaction of material behavior, geometry, and stress history on the life of a component. It compares the safe-life approach with the damage-tolerance approach, which employs the stress-life method of fatigue life assessment. The article examines the behavior of three different metallic materials used in the design and manufacture of structural components: steel, aluminum, and titanium. It also reviews the effects of retardation and spectrum load on component life. The article concludes with case studies of fatigue life assessment from the aerospace industry.

Shot peen forming is a manufacturing process in which local compressive residual stresses form thin sheet metals and structural components in one or more dimensions. This article discusses the principle of the process with an emphasis on fundamental mechanisms. It presents the basic considerations in the simulation of shot peen forming and provides information on single impact and multiple-impact peening simulations. The article describes the equipment and tooling used in the process. It also analyzes the influence of process parameters on shot peen forming and illustrates possible shapes and contours, which are producible by shot peen forming. The article concludes with a table that presents typical peen forming applications in the aircraft and aerospace industries.

This article discusses the principal process steps, specifications, defects, applications, advantages, and disadvantages of chemical milling (CM) in aerospace industries. The process steps include precleaning, masking, scribing, etching, final cleaning, stripping, and mechanical finishing. The article describes the variables that affect undercut and surface finish obtained by CM. The mechanical properties of chemically milled parts are also discussed.

Corrosion, fatigue, and their synergistic interactions are among the principal causes of damage to aircraft structures. This article describes aircraft corrosion fatigue assessment in the context of different approaches used to manage aircraft structural integrity, schedule aircraft inspection intervals, and perform repair and maintenance of aircraft in service. It illustrates the types of corrosive attack observed in aircraft structures, including uniform, galvanic, pitting, filiform, fretting, intergranular, exfoliation corrosion, and stress-corrosion cracking. The article discusses geometric parameters such as pit dimensions, surface roughness, loss of metal thickness, and volume increase due to pillowing to quantitatively characterize the types of corrosion. It also explains the two most common fatigue life assessment methods used in the military aerospace industry: fatigue crack initiation and crack growth analysis.

Bulk molding compounds can be molded into a variety of complex shapes by methods that can be readily automated for high volume production. This article describes the formulation and processing (compound formation, and molding methods) of bulk molding compounds. It discusses the effects of fiber type, fiber length, and matrix type on thermoset bulk molding compounds. The markets for long-fiber-reinforced bulk molding compounds are electrical, ordnance, aerospace, industrial, sporting goods, and automotive applications.

Alloy 7055 is widely used in the aerospace industry in applications as plate and extrusions. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy and processing effects on fracture, mechanical, tensile, and compressive properties of this 7xxx series alloy.

This article provides a summary of the concepts discussed in the articles under the Section “Introduction to Testing and Certification” in ASM Handbook, Volume 21: Composites. The Section covers the basics of what to test, how to test, and how many to test to obtain specific properties of common advanced composite materials.

The aviation industry has been driving the use of additive manufacturing (AM), moving from one-off demonstrator or pathfinder components toward higher-volume serial production applications. This article presents an introduction to AM in aviation, explaining how aviation requirements apply to AM. It also presents advancements, standards, and future expectations of aviation.

This article describes the process of selecting an optimum coating and material system for a specific application. It reviews critical coating functions that influence the coating selection process, and presents some application success stories. The article explores the benefits of thermal spray coatings and functions they provide. It also presents key references from various National Thermal Spray Conference, United Thermal Spray Conference, and International Thermal Spray Conference Proceedings from 2006 through 2012.

Diffusion brazing (DFB) is a process that coalesces, or joins, metals by heating them to a suitable brazing temperature at which either a preplaced filler metal will melt and flow by capillary attraction or a liquid phase will form in situ between one faying surface and another. This article discusses the two critical aspects of DFB, namely, a liquid filler metal must be formed and become active in the joint area and extensive diffusion of filler metal elements into the base metal must occur. It schematically illustrates a diffusion process that results in the loss of identity of original brazed joint. The article also discusses the advantages of DFB.