This article describes the commonly observed forms of airplane corrosion, namely: general corrosion, exfoliation corrosion, pitting corrosion, microbiologically induced corrosion, galvanic corrosion, filiform corrosion, crevice corrosion, stress-corrosion cracking, and fretting. It discusses the factors influencing airplane corrosion from the manufacturing perspective: design, manufacturing, and service-related factors. The article explains the collection of corrosion data and provides an overview of the implementation and evolution of airline corrosion prevention and control programs and directions being considered in the design for corrosion prevention of airplanes.

This article describes two analysis methods that are used to determine the life of aircrafts: fatigue life and fracture mechanics methods. The life limiting factors that control the durability of the aircraft are also discussed. The article provides an overview of the various approaches to corrosion identification and prevention. These include safe-life, fail-safe, and damage tolerance approaches. The article discusses their application to the process of extending the life of aircraft structural components.

This article focuses on the factors to be considered for selecting fasteners for joining carbon fiber composites. These considerations include corrosion compatibility, fastener materials, strength, stiffness, head configurations, importance of clamp-up, hole fit, and lightning protection.

This article focuses on failure analyses of aircraft components from a metallurgical and materials engineering standpoint, which considers the interdependence of processing, structure, properties, and performance of materials. It discusses methodologies for conducting aircraft investigations and inspections and emphasizes cases where metallurgical or materials contributions were causal to an accident event. The article highlights how the failure of a component or system can affect the associated systems and the overall aircraft. The case studies in this article provide examples of aircraft component and system-level failures that resulted from various factors, including operational stresses, environmental effects, improper maintenance/inspection/repair, construction and installation issues, manufacturing issues, and inadequate design.

This article provides information on the applications of fiber-reinforced composites in commercial and military aircrafts. It tabulates the composite components in various types of aircraft. The applications of the composites in the components of Boeing 727, 737, 757, 767, 777, and 777-200 are schematically illustrated.

This article presents the concept of fracture mechanisms in general terms in order to impart a practical understanding as well as enable readers to develop the ability to identify the basic fracture mechanisms correctly based on microscope observations. The key microscopic features of fracture surfaces are described and illustrated for the important types of fracture mechanisms. It provides a detailed discussion on environmentally assisted crack initiation and growth.

This article provides a summary of the concepts discussed in the Section “Corrosion in Specific Industries” in the ASM Handbook, Volume 13C:Corrosion: Environments and Industries. This Section applies the fundamental understanding of corrosion and knowledge of materials of construction to practical applications. The industries addressed are nuclear power, fossil and alternative fuel, land transportation, air transportation, microelectronics, chemical processing, pulp and paper, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and medical technology, petroleum and petrochemical, building, and mining and metal processing.

Alloy 713.0 is an aluminum-based casting alloy that ages at room temperature to provide high-strength sand and permanent-mold castings. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of this 7xxx series alloy.

This article first describes the two methods used in the 1998 U.S. corrosion cost study. In the first method, the cost was determined by summing the costs for corrosion control methods and contract services. In the second, the cost of corrosion was first determined for specific industry sectors and then extrapolated to calculate a national total corrosion cost. The article then reports the results and conclusions of the study. It concludes with information on corrosion prevention strategies.

This article provides non-proprietary and non-competition-sensitive information related to aircraft applications. It presents an overview of reliability and commonly used measurements. Failure modes that cause the negative performance are reviewed based on many types of sources. These include manufacturer service bulletins, reliability and customer service departments, literature reviews, demonstration programs, in-service evaluations, design guides, and surveys of commercial and military aircraft maintenance organizations. The article also describes lessons learned while attempting to avoid overlapping maintainability, reparability, and materials choice.

Damage tolerance is a philosophy used for maintaining the structural safety of commercial transport aircrafts. This article describes the structural evaluations necessary to comply with the regulations contained in the Federal Air worthiness Requirements 25.571 whose guidance is given in Advisory Circular 25.571-1A from the Federal Aviation Administration. It provides an overview of the historical evolution of damage tolerance philosophy and presents a discussion of the design philosophies and a summary of the evaluation tasks for damage tolerance certification.