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Aluminum-Lithium Alloy 2050 for Reduced-Weight, Increased-Stiffness Space Structures
Title: Principal Investigator
Phone: (304) 547-5800
Email: jmb@trl.com
Title: Business Official
Phone: (304) 547-5800
Email: jrj@trl.com
Touchstone Research Laboratory, along with Alcan Rolled ProductsÂ? Ravenswood WV, has identified the Aluminum-Lithium Alloy 2050 as a potentially game-changing material replacement for current space structural alloys such as Aluminum-Lithium alloy 2195. AA2050 is available in significantly thicker plate gauges than AA2195 and, as a result, can be machined orformed into ribs, stringers or other types of stiffened structures that have increased stiffness and as a result provide overall structural weight savings potential of approximately 15 to 20%. The AA2050, however, needs more development work and understanding in the area of cryogenic material properties, joining, and design potential to be considered for NASA mission vehicles. Touchstone is proposing a Phase I effort to do cryogenic characterization testing, concept design, and computational modeling and analysis to demonstrate the feasibility of using AA2050 for increased-stiffness, reduced-weight space structures.
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *