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KMW Blog Feb 23, 2016: Germany's Aleris ready to roll with aluminum-magnesium-scandium alloy for aircraft


Posted: Feb 23, 2016JK: Germany's Aleris ready to roll with aluminum-magnesium-scandium alloy for aircraft
Published: Feb 19, 2016Misc: The future of aircraft metals appears bright
Eric Brothers of Aerospace Manufacturing and Design, a technical portal focused on aerospace mnaufacturing and design related issues, presents a two part interview with experts from two major providers of aircraft components, Eric Roegner of ALCOA's Engineering and Products Solution group, and Matthias Miermeister of privately held Aleris which specializes in aluminum rolled products. ALCOA has come under pressure from Paul Singer's hedge fund, Elliott Management Corp, to split its basic aluminum production division from its downstream specialty materials division (see Bloomberg - February 1, 2016) to unlock the value inherent in the profitable alloy division overshadowed by the bearish aluminum market. After years of thinking about it ALCOA is splitting itself, but in an effort to distinguish itself from the aluminum "stigma", prefers to talk about other metal alloys. In the AMD interview Roegner dwells on opportunities in other metals and gives lip service to aluminum-lithium alloys it has been marketing for decades. In contrast, Aleris thinks aluminum based alloys are great, and is happy to talk about its aluminum-magnesium-scandium alloy (AlMgSc). As a buyer of aluminum Aleris does not care that the price is cheap thanks to a an industry supply glut though one suspects is quite delighted. Miermeister spends most of the interview talking about how AlMgSc is an ideal substitute for 2024 aluminum, a low cost series two alloy with copper as the primary alloying agent widely used in aircraft structures. Miermeister touts AlMgSc as a superior substitute for aluminum-lithium alloys co-developed with Airbus that requires 0.1%-0.2% scandium, can replace 2024 aluminum on a one-to-one basis, reduces weight by 4%, and does not require any design changes. The series five AlMgSc alloy has almost completed a technology readiness level of 6 (TRL 6), which means testing a prototype in a simiulated operating environment. Level 7 is testing in an operating environment; Miermeister indicates Aleris is waiting for "a program to pick up this technology to get it into flight status". In other words, one of the aircraft makers needs to agree to test AlMgSc components in one of its aircraft. Now that the ICAO has established carbon dioxide emission reduction targets for the airline industry (see KMW Blog - Feb 9, 2016), the urgency of testing AlMgSc has grown substantially. Certification of fuselage made from Al-MgSc rolled sheet could be ready by 2020 when the new standards start to apply and scandium production from Nyngan and Syerston in Australia's New South Wales has been established.
 
 

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