Holy Angel University

AIRMATLS – Aircraft Materials and Processes

PRELIM HAND-OUTS

AIRCRAFT MATERIALS:

I. History

The techniques and materials used in the early years of aviation were quite primitive by
modern standards. The Wright brothers' "Flyer," for example, was made from steel, wire, cable,
silk, and wood. However, as aircraft development advanced, a breakthrough occurred in the
aircraft aluminum industry.
Metallurgists found that mixing, or alloying aluminum with other metals resulted in a much
stronger material. In fact, alloying increased the tensile strength of pure aluminum from about
13,000 psi to a tensile strength of 65,000 psi or greater, which is equivalent to structural steel. As
the need for aluminum alloys grew, manufacturers continued to refine them to produce materials
with better corrosion resistance and greater strength.
Today, military aircraft are constructed of about 65 percent aluminum and 35 percent of other
alloys, including titanium, inconel, silver, and nickel. Civilian aircraft are approximately 80 percent
aluminum alloy and 20 percent other alloys.
In addition to aluminum alloys, composite materials are being used for more applications in
aircraft structures. For example, a typical Boeing 737-300 aircraft utilizes graphite, Kevlar, and
fiberglass composites in flight controls and fairings. The use of these materials saves more than
600 pounds in weight over traditional sheet metal parts. However, while aircraft manufacturers
continue to find more uses for composite materials, aluminum and steel alloys remain the most
popular structural materials.

II. Properties of Material

A. Hardness - refers to the ability of a material to resist abrasion, penetration, cutting action,
or permanent distortion. Hardness may be increased by cold working the metal and, in the
case of steel and certain aluminum alloys, by heat treatment.
B. Strength - one of the most important properties of a material is strength. Strength is the
ability of a material to resist deformation. Strength is also the ability of a material to resist
stress without breaking.

C. Density - is the weight of a unit volume of a material. In aircraft work, the specified weight
of a material per cubic inch is preferred since this figure can be used in determining the
weight of a part before actual manufacture.
D. Malleability - a metal which can be hammered, rolled, or pressed into various shapes
without cracking, breaking, or leaving some other detrimental effect, is said to be malleable.

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E. Ductility - is the property of a metal which permits it to be permanently drawn, bent, or

twisted into various shapes without breaking. This property is essential for metals used in
making wire and tubing.
F. Elasticity - is that property that enables a metal to return to its original size and shape when
the force which causes the change of shape is removed. This property is extremely valuable
because it would be highly undesirable to have a part permanently distorted after an
applied load was removed.
G. Toughness - a material which possesses toughness will withstand tearing or shearing and
may be stretched or otherwise deformed without breaking. Toughness is a desirable
property in aircraft metals.
H. Brittleness - is the property of a metal which allows little bending or deformation without
shattering. A brittle metal is apt to break or crack without change of shape.
I. Fusibility - is the ability of a metal to become liquid by the application of heat.
J. Conductivity - is the property which enables a metal to carry heat or electricity. The heat
conductivity of a metal is especially important in welding because it governs the amount of
heat that will be required for proper fusion.
K. Thermal Expansion - refers to contraction and expansion that are reactions produced in
metals as the result of heating or cooling.

III. Types of Aircraft Materials

A. Wood and Fabric

B. Metal
C. Composite Material

IV. Classifications of Metal

A. Ferrous Metal
- Any alloy containing iron as its chief constituent is called a ferrous metal.
- The most common ferrous metal in aircraft structures is steel, an alloy of iron with a
controlled amount of carbon added.

a. Iron
- It is a chemical element which is fairly soft, malleable, and ductile in its pure form.
- Iron combines readily with oxygen to form iron oxide, which is more commonly
known as rust. This is one reason why iron is usually mixed with various forms of car-
bon and other alloying agents or impurities.

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- Cast iron has few aircraft applications because of its low strength-to-weight ratio.
However, it is used in engines for items such as valve guides where its porosity and
wear characteristics allow it to hold a lubricant film. It is also used in piston rings.

a. Steel
- To make steel, pig iron is re-melted in a special furnace. Pure oxygen is then forced
through the molten metal where it combines with carbon and burns. A controlled
amount of carbon is then put back into the molten metal along with other elements
to produce the desired characteristics.

Carbon
- It is the most common alloying element found in steel. It is the carbon in steel
that allows the steel to be heat treated to obtain varying degrees of hardness,
strength, and toughness.
- The greater the carbon content, the more receptive steel is to heat treatment
and, therefore, the higher its tensile strength and hardness. However,
higher carbon content decreases the malleability and weldability of steel.
Sulfur
- Causes steel to be brittle when rolled or forged and, therefore, it must be
removed in the refining process. If all the sulfur cannot be removed its effects
can be countered by adding manganese.
Phosphorous
- Raises the yield strength of steel and improves low carbon steel's resistance to
atmospheric corrosion.
Nickel
- Adds strength and hardness to steel and increases its yield strength. It also
slows the rate of hardening when steel is heat-treated, which increases the
depth of hardening and produces a finer grain structure.
Chromium
- It is alloyed with steel to increase strength and hardness as well as improve its
wear and corrosion resistance.

b. SAE Classification of Steels

- Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
- An organization that has established standards for materials and processes that are
widely used in the aviation industry.
- Steel used in aircraft structure is classified according to the SAE four-digit numbering
system that identifies its composition.

SAE Four-digit System

First Digit: basic alloying element
Second Digit: the percentage of the basic element in the alloy
Third and Fourth: percentage of carbon in the alloy in hundredths of a percent
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Types of Steel Number Group

Carbon Steel 1xxx
Nickel Steel 2xxx
Nickel Chromium Steel 3xxx
Chromium
41xx
Molybdenum Steel
Chromium Steel 5xxx
Chromium Vanadium
6xxx
Steel
National Emergency
8xxx
Steel
Silicon Manganese Steel 9xxx

Some of most commonly used SAE steels:

1xxx – Carbon Steel

Types of Carbon Steel:
1. Low-carbon Steel – containing 0.10% and 0.30% carbon. Used for making
safety wire and certain secondary structural parts where strength is not
critical.
2. Medium-carbon Steel – containing 0.30% and 0.50% carbon. Used for
machined and forged parts, especially where surface hardening is needed.
3. High-carbon Steel – containing 0.50% and 1.05% carbon. Used where
extreme hardness is required, springs are made of high-carbon steel.

2xxx – Nickel Steel

- Nickel may be alloyed with carbon steel to increase its hardness, tensile
strength, and elastic limit without appreciably decreasing ductility.
- SAE 2330 steel is used for aircraft bolts, cable terminals, keys, clevises, and
pins.

3xxx – Nickel chromium Steel

- Nickel gives toughness to steel, and chromium hardens it.
- SAE 3130 and 3250 are used for forged and machined parts where high
strength, ductility, toughness, and shock resistance are needed.

41xx – Chrome-molybdenum Steel

- This alloy combines toughness and high strength with ease of welding and
machining.
- SAE 4130 is used extensively for welded steel structure such as fuselage
frames, landing gear, and engine mounts.
- Engine cylinders and other highly stressed parts are often made of SAE 4130
steel.
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6xxx – Chrome-vanadium Steel

- Used extensively for wrenches and other hand tools where extremely high
strength and hardness are essential.

B. Non-Ferrous Metal
- Much of the metal used on today's aircraft contains no iron. The term that describes
metals which have elements other than iron as their base is nonferrous.
- Aluminum, copper, titanium, and magnesium are some of the more common
nonferrous metals used in aircraft construction and repair.

a. Aluminum
- It is one of the most widely used metals in modern aircraft construction.
- It is vital to the aviation industry because of its high strength to weight ratio and its
comparative ease of fabrication.
- The outstanding characteristic of aluminum is its light weight. It is nonmagnetic and
is an excellent conductor.
- Pure aluminum is light weight and corrosion resistant, but it lacks strength for use as
a structural material. Other elements are mixed with it to increase its strength, but it
becomes susceptible to corrosion.

Four Digit Index System

- Aluminum and aluminum alloys are designated by a four digit index system.
The system is broken into three distinct groups: 1xxx group, 2xxx through 8xxx
group, and 9xxx group (which is currently unused).
First Digit: Alloy type
Second Digit: Modification of Alloy
Third and Fourth Digit: Purity of Aluminum or different alloy in the group

Second Digit Alloy Type Number Group

- The second digit indicates specific Aluminum 1xxx
alloy modifications. Copper 2xxx
- Second number be zero, it would Manganese 3xxx
indicate no special control over
Silicon 4xxx
individual impurities or it indicates
Magnesium 5xxx
original alloy.
- Digits 1 through 9, indicate the Magnesium and Silicon 6xxx
number of controls over individual Zinc 7xxx
impurities in the metal. Other Elements 8xxx

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Third and Fourth Digit

- The last two digits of the 1xxx group are used to indicate the hundredths of 1
percent above the original 99 percent designated by the first digit.

- In the 2xxx through 8xxx groups, the last two of the four digits in the
designation identify the different alloys in the group.

List of most generally used alloy types for aircraft structural aluminum:

Alloy 1100
- Is a low strength, commercially pure aluminum that can be only be used in
non-structural applications where strength is not important.
- High thermal and electrical conductivity, good corrosion resistance and is
easy to work.

Alloy 2024
- Is the most popular structural aluminum alloy. Its strength is equivalent to
the mild steel, but its susceptible to corrosion.

Alloy 3003
- It is similar to 1100 and is used for the same types of applications. It is non-
heat treatable but it can be hardened by cold working.

Alloy 5052
- Is used for welded applications such as fuel tanks and for rigid fluid lines.
When it is exposed to temperature above 150OF, or when it is excessively
cold worked, its susceptibility to corrosion increases.

Alloy 6061
- Used in applications where heat treatability, ease forming, medium strength,
and good corrosion resistance are needed.

Alloy 7075
- Used for high strength structural requirements.

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Clad Aluminum
- An aluminum alloy sheet that has a coating of pure aluminum rolled onto its
surface.
- Aluminum alloy are corrosive, but pure aluminum is not. The pure aluminum
cladding protects the core alloy sheet from corrosion.
- Alclad and Pureclad are registered trade name for clad aluminum alloy sheets.

b. Magnesium and Magnesium Alloy

- Is the lightest structural metal, weighing only about two thirds as much as aluminum.
- Pure magnesium does not have enough strength for use as structural material, but
when alloyed with aluminum, zinc, or manganese, its strength is sufficient. It can be
forged or rolled into thin sheets.
- It is highly susceptible to corrosion and its has a tendency to crack when it is
subjected to excessive vibration. Under certain conditions magnesium dust and fine
chips can be ignited easily.

c. Copper and Copper Alloy

- It is one of the most widely distributed metals. Its use as a structural material is
limited because of its great weight.
- Some of its outstanding characteristics, such as its high electrical and heat
conductivity, in many cases overbalance the weight factor.
- In aircraft, copper is used primarily in the electrical system for bus bars, bonding, and
as lockwire.

d. Titanium and Titanium Alloy

- Has high structural strength which it retains to high temperature. It is used in turbine
engines, and for aircraft skins in areas where the temperature is high.
- It may be welded, but because it reacts with oxygen at high temperatures, it must be
protected from the air with a blanket of inert gas. Inert gas welding is used.

Titanium Designation
- The A-B-C classification of titanium alloys was established to provide a
convenient and simple means of describing all titanium alloys. Titanium and
titanium alloys possess three basic types of crystals: A (alpha), B (beta), and C
(combined alpha and beta).
1. A (alpha) – all around performance; good weldability; tough and strong both
cold and hot, and resistant to oxidation.
2. B (beta) – bendability; excellent bend ductility; strong both cold and hot, but
vulnerable to contamination.
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3. C (combined alpha and beta for compromise performances) – strong when

cold and warm, but weak when hot; good bendability; moderate
contamination resistance; excellent forgeability.

Titanium Corrosion Characteristics

- The corrosion resistance of titanium deserves special mention. The resistance
of the metal to corrosion is caused by the formation of a protective surface film
of stable oxide or chemi-absorbed oxygen. Film is often produced by the
presence of oxygen and oxidizing agents.

C. Other Metals

a. Corrosion Resistant Steel

- Commonly called stainless steel. It contains large amounts of chromium and nickel.
- Their strength and resistance to corrosion make them well suited for high-
temperature applications such as firewalls and exhaust system components.
- Is not normally classified in the SAE system, rather it is identified by a three-digit
system.
- Corrosion resistant steel can be divided into three general groups based on their
chemical structure: austenitic, ferritic, and martensitic.

1. Austenitic Steel
- Also referred to as 200 and 300 series stainless steels, contain a large
percentage of chromium and nickel, and in the case of the 200 series, some
manganese.
- Can be hardened only by coldworking while heat treatment serves only to
anneal them.

2. Ferritic Steel
- Are primarily alloyed with chromium but many also contain small amounts of
aluminum.
- It contains no carbon and, therefore, do not respond to heat treatment.

3. Martensitic Steel
- These steels are alloyed with chromium only and therefore are magnetic.
- This steel become extremely hard if allowed to cool rapidly by quenching
from an elevated temperature. It also referred as 400 series of stainless steel.

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a. Monel
- Leading high nickel alloy combines the properties of high strength and excellent
corrosion resistance.
- Used for gears and chains to operate retractable landing gears, and for structural
parts subject to corrosion.
- Is used for parts demanding both strength and high resistance to corrosion, such as
exhaust manifolds and carburetor needle valves and sleeves.

b. K –Monel
- A nonferrous alloy containing mainly nickel, copper, and aluminum. It is produced by
adding a small amount of aluminum to the Monel formula.
- It is corrosion resistant and capable of being hardened by heat treatment. Used for
gears and structural members in aircraft which are subjected to corrosive attacks.

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V. Metal Working Processing

- After metal alloys are produced, they must be formed into useful shapes.
- Wrought objects are those formed by physically working the metal into shape,
whereas cast items are formed by pouring molten metal into molds.
- When it comes to mechanically working metal into a desired shape, there are three
methods commonly used. They are hot working, cold working, and extruding.

A. Hot Working
Forging - is typically used to form intricate shapes and is accomplished through either
pressing or hammering.

a. Pressing
- It is used to form large and heavy parts. Since a press is slow acting, its force is
uniformly transmitted to the center of the material being pressed.
- This affects the interior grain structure resulting in the best possible structure
throughout.

b. Drop Forging
- It is a hammering process whereby a hot ingot is placed between a pair of formed
dies in a machine called a drop hammer and a weight of several tons is dropped on
the upper die.
- This results in the hot metal being forced to take the form of the dies.
-
Because the process is very rapid, the grain structure of the metal is altered,
resulting in significant increases in the strength of the finished part.
c. Hammering
- A type of forging that is usually used on small parts because it requires a
metalworker to physically hammer a piece of metal into its finished shape.
- The advantage of hammering is that the operator has control over both the amount
of pressure applied and the finishing temperature.
- This type of forging is usually referred to as smith forging and is used extensively
where only a small number of parts are needed.
- In addition to the forming operation, hammering hardens the metal.

B. Cold Working
- Cold-working strain hardens the worked metal, increasing its strength and hardness
but decreasing ductility.

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- For this reason, cold worked material usually must be heat treated before use. While
there are several cold-working processes, the two that are most common are cold
rolling and cold drawing.

a. Cold Rolling
- Usually refers to the rolling of metal at room temperature to its approximate size.
- Once this is done, the metal is pickled to remove any scale, and then passed through
chilled finishing rolls. This results in a smooth surface and extremely accurate
dimensions.

b. Cold Drawing
- It is used in making seamless tubing, wire, streamlined tie rods, and other forms of
stock.
- Wire is made from hot rolled rods of various diameters. The size of rod used for
drawing depends on the diameter wanted in the finished wire.

C. Extrusion
- The process of forcing metal through a die which imparts a required cross-section to
the metal.
- Some metals such as lead, tin, and aluminum may be extruded cold; however, most
metals are heated. The principal advantage of the extrusion process is its flexibility.

VI. Heat Treatment

- A process of heating a metal to improves the metal properties such as hardness,
ductility, toughness and others.
- It may also remove some internal and external stresses and strain to reduce metal
failure.

Critical Temperature of a Metal - the temperature at which the internal structure of a

metal takes on a crystalline form.

A. Ferrous Metal Heat Treatment

a. Hardening
- The hardness of heat treated steel can be controlled by the rate of cooling through
the critical range, and this rate is determined by the quenching liquid used.

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Quenching Medium:
1. Brine – fastest quench that produces the hardest steel.
2. Water – produces slightly less hardness.
3. Oil – slowest quench that produces the least.

Process:
- The metal is heated at the furnace with a temperature above its critical
temperature, quench it at this temperature, and allow cooling at room
temperature.

- At room temperature, carbon in the steel exists in the form of iron carbide scattered
throughout the basic iron structure.
- The number of these iron carbide particles, their size, and their distribution within
the steel determine the hardness of the steel at room temperature.

b. Normalizing
- When a steel part is forged or welded, or after certain types of machining, stresses
are left in the metal that can cause distortion or cracking. These stresses are relieved
in ferrous metals by a process known as normalizing.
- A form of heat treatment in which stresses are removed from a metal.
- Normalizing removes stresses and improves the grain structures, toughness, and
ductility of the metal.

Process:
- The metal is heated to a temperature above its critical temperature and
allowed to cool in still air.

c. Annealing
- Also called softening.
- A form of heat treatment in which a metal is made soft.
- Annealing produces a fine-grain, soft, ductile metal without internal stresses or
strains.

Process:
- By heating the steel metal to just above the upper critical point, soaking it at
this temperature, and then cooling it very slowly in the furnace.

d. Tempering
- A form of heat treatment in which brittleness is removed from the metal but it may
also reduces some hardness.
- It usually done after the steel is hardened.
- Tempering is not only reduces hardness and brittleness, but also relieves some
internal  stress  and  improves  steel’s  ductility  and  toughness.

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Process:
- Tempering is done by holding it at a specific temperature for a period of time
and then allowing it to cool in still air.

e. Case Hardening
- A type of metal heat treatment in which the surface of the metal is hardened and
made brittle while the core of the material remains strong and tough.
- Steels most suitable for case hardening have low carbon content.

Methods of Case Hardening:

1. Nitriding
- A method of case hardening steel by heating it in an atmosphere of ammonia.
- The nitrogen in the ammonia reacts with the surface of the steel to form
extremely hard nitrides.

Process:
- The steel part is heated in a retort in which there is an atmosphere of
ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen.
- Nitriding does not change the dimension of the part, and it causes less
distortion than other types of case hardening

2. Carburizing
- A case hardening process in which additional carbon is infused into the surface
of low-carbon steel.
- This gives the steel a high carbon surface that can be hardened to a depth
ranging 0.01 to 0.06 inch, while the low carbon center remains relatively soft
and tough.

Process:
- One method of carburizing is to heat the steel in a surface whose atmosphere
contains a great deal of carbon monoxide.
- A more common method, called pack carburizing, is done by placing the steel
part in a container and packing it with charcoal and other materials rich in
carbon.

B. Non-ferrous Metal Heat Treatment

a. Aluminum and Magnesium Alloy

1. Solution Heat Treatment

- Also called natural aging
- In the process of heat treating aluminum alloys, the grain size is reduced when
the metal is hot, and it grows as the metal cools.

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- For maximum strength the metal must be quenched immediately after it is

taken from the oven so it will have the smallest grain size possible.
- If there is a delay between the times the metal is removed from the oven and
the time it is quenched, the grains will grown large enough for the metal to
become susceptible to intergranular corrosion.
Intergranular Corrosion – corrosion that forms along the grain boundaries in a
piece of metal.

Process:
- Aluminum alloy may be hardened by heating them in a furnace until they
reached a specified temperature throughout and immediately quenching them
in water.
- The metal does not have its full hardness immediately after it is quenched, but
it gains hardness and strength over a period of several days through the
process of aging.

Aging – the characteristics of certain aluminum alloy that causes them to gain
hardness over a period of time after they have been heated in a furnace and
quenched.

2. Precipitation Heat Treatment

- Also called artificial aging
- Artificial aging greatly increases the strength and hardness of the metal, but it
decreases the ductility; the metal becomes more difficult to bend and form.
- Aluminum alloy has been heat treated, it gains its full hardness and strength by
natural aging, but this strengthening process may be speeded up and
increased.

Process:
- By returning the metal to the oven and heating it to a temperature much
lower than that used for solution heat treatment. It is held at this
temperature for up to 24 hours and then removed from the oven and
allowed to cool in still air.

3. Annealing
- A form of heat treatment in which a metal is made soft.
- Annealing leaves the metal soft, and in its weakest conditions.
- Same as the annealing for ferrous metal, the only difference is the process of
heat treating.

Process:
- By heating them in an oven to a specified temperature and then cooling them
slowly in the furnace or in still air.

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b. Titanium Alloy

1. Stress Relieving
- When titanium is cold formed or machined, stresses may be trapped within the
metal and cause distortion or wrapping. These stresses are relieved by a
process known as stress relieving.

Process:
- The metal is heated to a temperature between 650OF and 1000OF and held at
this temperature for a specified time depending on its thickness, and then
the metal is removed from the furnace and allowed to cool in still air.

2. Annealing
- Titanium and titanium alloy may be made easier to work by annealing them.
- Not only does the annealing make them easier to form but it also gives
toughness and ductility at room temperature.

Process:
- Done by heating the metal to a temperature of between 1,200OF and 1,650OF
and holding it for a specified time depending on its thickness, then allowing it
to cool in still air.

3. Thermal Hardening
- This treatment hardens the metal, but it also causes the loss of some of its
ductility.
- Pure titanium cannot be hardened by heat, but many of titanium alloys used in
aircraft construction can be hardened by thermal hardening.

Process:
- By heating the metal until they reach a temperature of around 1,450OF
throughout and then quenching them in water. After quenching, the metal is
again heated, this time to around 900OF and held at this temperature for
several hours.

4. Case hardening
- The surface of titanium can be hardened without affecting the internal
condition by nitriding or carburizing.
- Case hardening produces a wear-resistant surface for a depth of between
0.0001 and 0.0002 inch.

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VII. Temper Designation

- The temper designation follows the alloy designation and is separated from it by a
dash. The temper designation consists of a letter indicating the basic temper which
may be more specifically defined by the addition of one or more digits.
- Temper designation is applicable for non-ferrous metal.
- For example: 7075-T6, 2024-T4.

List of temper designation:

Temper
Process
Designation
F as fabricated
O annealed
H strain hardened
H1 strain hardened only
H2 strain hardened and partially annealed
H3 strain hardened and stabilized
W solution heat treatment, uns table temper
T treated to produce stable tempers other than F, O and H
T2 annealed (cast products only)
T3 solution heat treated and then cold worked
T4 solution heat treated
T5 artificial aged only
T6 solution heat treated and then artificially aged
T7 solution heat treated and then stabilized
solution heat treated, cold worked, and then artificially
T8
aged
solution heat treated, artificially aged, and then cold
T9
worked
T10 artificially aged and then cold worked

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VIII. Hardness Testing

A. Brinell Hardness System

- The Brinell hardness tester uses a hydraulic force to impress a spherical penetrator
into the surface of a sample.
- The amount of force used is approximately 3,000 kilograms for steel, and 500
kilograms for nonferrous metals.
- This force is hydraulically applied by a hand pump and read on a pressure gauge.
- When the sample is removed from the tester, the diameter of the impression is
measured with a special calibrated microscope. This diameter is converted into a
Brinell number by using a chart furnished with the tester.

A Brinell hardness tester determines

hardness by forcing a penetrator into a
sample and measuring the diameter of
the resulting impression.

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B. Rockwell Hardness System

- To use Rockwell hardness tester, a sample is thoroughly cleaned, the two opposite
surfaces are ground flat and parallel, and all scratches are polished out.
- The sample is then placed on the anvil of the tester and raised up against the
penetrator.
- A 10-kilogram load, called the minor load, is applied and the machine is zeroed.
- A major load is then applied and the dial on the tester indicates the depth the
penetrator sinks into the metal.
- Instead of indicating the depth of penetration in thousandths of an inch, it indicates in
Rockwell numbers on either a red or a black scale.

Types of Penetrator:
1. Conical diamond
2. 1/16 inch ball
3. 1/8 inch ball

Kinds of Major Loads:

1. 60 kg
2. 100 kg
3. 150 kg

A Rockwell hardness tester produces

the same information as a Brinell tester
by measuring the depth of the
impression in a sample.

Commonly used Rockwell scales:

1. B-scale – for soft metals, which uses a 1/16 ball penetrator and a 100 kg major
load.
2. C-scale - for hard metals, this uses the conical diamond penetrator and a 150 kg
major load.

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IX. Aircraft Wood

A. Quality Wood
- Wood and adhesive materials used in aircraft repair should meet aircraft quality
standards and be purchased from reputable distributors to ensure such quality.
- Strict adherence to the specifications in the aircraft structural-repair manual will
ensure that the structure will be as strong as the original.

B. Sitka Spruce
- The reference wood used for aircraft structures because of its uniformity, strength,
and excellent shock-resistance qualities.
- Reputable companies that sell wood for use in aircraft repairs stringently inspect and
verify that the wood product meets the appropriate FAA specifications.
- Most Sitka spruce now comes from British Columbia and Alaska due to the depletion
of old growth spruce forests in the United States, thus making quality spruce valuable
and occasionally, limited in supply.
- To meet the "Aircraft Sitka Spruce" grade specification, the lumber must be kiln-dried
to a government specification known as AN-W-2.
- This specification requires that the specific gravity shall not be less than 0.36, the
slope of the grain shall not be steeper than 1 to 15, the wood must be sawn vertical-
grain, and shall have no fewer than six annular rings per inch.

C. Wood Substitution
- Advisory Circular or AC 43.13-1B outlines information regarding acceptable wood
species substitutions.
- If there is any question about the suitability of a specific piece or type of wood for a
repair, it would be wise to get the approval of the aircraft manufacturer or local FAA
inspector before using it on the aircraft.

Strength Maximum
Species of Properties as Permissible
Remarks
Wood Compared to Grain
Spruce Deviation

Spruce 100% 1:15 Excellent for all causes. Considered as standard for
this table.
May be used as substitute for spruce in same sizes or
in slightly reduced sizes providing reductions are
substantiated. Difficult to work with hand tools. Some
Douglas Fir Exceeds spruce 1:15
tendency to split and splinter during fabrication. Large
solid pieces should be avoided due to inspection
difficulties. Gluing satisfactory.

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Engr. Roi Allan A. Bernardo
Holy Angel University

Slightly exceeds Satisfactory characteristics with respect to

spruce except 8 workability, warping and splitting. May be used as
Noble Fir 1:15 direct substitute for spruce in same sizes providing
percent deficient in
shear shear does not become critical. Hardness somewhat
less than spruce. Gluing satisfactory.
Western Slightly exceeds Less uniform in texture than spruce. May be used as
1:15
Hemlock spruce direct substitute for spruce. Gluing satisfactory.

Properties Excellent working qualities and uniform in properties

between 85 but somewhat low in hardness and shock-resisting
Pine, Northern
percent and 96 1:15 capacity. Cannot be used as substitute for spruce
White
percent those of without increase in sizes to compensate for lesser
spruce strength. Gluing satisfactory.

May be used as substitute for spruce in same sizes or

in slightly reduced sizes providing reductions are
White Cedar,
Exceeds spruce 1:15 substantiated. Easy to work with hand tools. Gluing
Port Orford
difficult but satisfactory joints can be obtained if
suitable precautions are taken.

Excellent working qualities. Should not be used as a

Slightly less than
direct substitute for spruce without carefully
spruce except in
Poplar, Yellow 1:15 accounting for slightly reduced strength properties.
compression
Somewhat low in shock-resisting capacity. Gluing
(crushing) and shear
satisfactory.

D. Plywood
- It is constructed of wood layers that are bonded with the grain direction at a 90 angle
to the previous layer.
- Structural aircraft grade plywood is more commonly manufactured from African
mahogany or American birch veneers that are bonded together in a hot press over
hardwood cores of basswood or poplar.
- Basswood plywood is another type of aviation grade plywood that is lighter and more
flexible than mahogany and birch plywood but has slightly less structural strength.

E. Laminated Wood
- It is constructed of two or more layers of solid wood that are bonded together.
- It is stronger but less flexible than a piece of solid wood of the same type and size.
- Laminated wood is much more resistant to warping than solid wood, making it a good
substitute for solid wood components.
- The lamination process differs from the plywood process in that each layer of
laminated wood is bonded with the grain running parallel with each other.

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Engr. Roi Allan A. Bernardo
Holy Angel University

F. Wood Assessment

a. Cut of the wood

- The way wood is cut affects its shrinkage characteristics and strength qualities.
- Aviation-quality wood is usually quarter-sawed to reduce the amount of
shrinkage over the life of the component.

b. Slope of the grain

- The maximum slope of the grain for aviation-grade lumber is 1:15.
- The slope of the grain is the amount of grain rise over the grain length. In other
words, the grain may not rise more than one inch in a 15-inch section of wood.

c. Number of growth rings

- To accurately calculate the number of rings, look at the end of the board and
count the number of growth rings in one inch.
- The minimum grain count for softwoods is six rings per inch.

21
Engr. Roi Allan A. Bernardo