Occurrence of Corrosion in Airframes
Abstract
Degradation of the mechanical properties of a material interacting with the environment is probably the best and widest definition for corrosion. In particular, as mechanical properties are the driving forces in the design of military aircraft, corrosion in airframes must be considered as a major problem because it directly affects safety, economic and logistic issues. Considering the variety of materials, environments and mechanical stresses involved in the aeronautical field, it represents one of the areas where the largest spectrum of corrosion types is observed. Many classification can be used to categorize aircraft corrosion phenomena: wet or dry corrosion depending on the environment, time dependent or time independent phenomena, mechanically or not mechanically assisted corrosion failures, etc.; all of them are useful to understand the main cause of the observed corrosion case and consequently to apply the most adequate corrective actions. The purpose of this lecture is to provide an overview on the most common forms of corrosion experienced in the past, in order to present a wide range of severity arising from cosmetic to catastrophic failures. Particular attention will be given to the corrosion aspects related with aging aircraft issues.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADP010769
Entities
People
- M. Colavita