Advanced Weldbonding Process Establishment for Aluminum.
Abstract
This program was conducted to establish the manufacturing parameters necessary to produce structural aircraft fuselage panels by the aluminum weldbonding process. These panels were representative of adhesive bonded panels currently being employed on the USAF/Fairchild Republic A-10. A design, feasibility and trade-off study was conducted by Fairchild, and a representative test panel was designed for comparing the structural performance of weldbond vs. adhesive bonded panels on a 1:1 basis. Northrop Corporation established the manufacturing procedures and process specifications which were used to manufacture the weldbonded panels. Fatigue and damage tolerance tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of different manufacturing variables on fatigue life. These tests showed that weldbonded structures would compare favorably with adhesive bonded structures, and would be significantly superior to riveted structures in low-load transfer fatigue applications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA071016
Entities
People
- T. R. Croucher