Aircraft Metallurgy (According to the Syllabus Prescribed by Director General of Civil Aviation, Govt
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L.N.V.M. Society Group of Institutes, Palam Extn., Part-1, Sec.-7, Dwarka, New Delhi - 45 1 Aircraft Metallurgy (According to the Syllabus Prescribed by Director General of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India) 2 Aircraft Metallurgy L.N.V.M. Society Group of Institutes, Palam Extn., Part-1, Sec.-7, Dwarka, New Delhi - 45 3 CONTENTS 1. FERROUS METALS : PRODUCTION OF STEELS AND ALLOY STEELS 1 2. NON-FERROUS METALS AND IT’S ALLOYS 12 3. NICKEL ALLOYS 19 4. COPPER AND ITS ALLOYS 29 5. WROUGH ALUMINIUM ALLOYS 36 6. MAGNESIUM ALLOYS 43 7. HEAT TREATMENT OF NON-FERROUS METALS AND ALLOYS 58 8. IDENTIFICATION OF METALS 65 9. MECHANICAL TESTING OF METALS 67 10. CORROSION : REMOVAL AND RECTIFICATION 77 11. CORROSION : METHODS OF PROTECTION 82 12. NDE : OIL AND CHALK PROCESSES 86 13. NDE : PENETRANT DYE PROCESSES 88 14. NDE : MAGNETIC FLAW DETECTION 93 15. NDE : FLUORESCENT PENETRANT PROCESSES 98 16. NDE : ENDOSCOPE INSPECTIONS 103 17. NDE : ULTRASONIC FLAW DETECTION AND THICKNESS MEASUREMENT 107 18. NDE : RADIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF AIRCRAFT STRUCTURE 111 19. NDE : EDDY CURRENT METHODS 114 20. ADVANCED COMPOSITES MATERIALS 118 L.N.V.M. Society Group of Institutes, Palam Extn., Part-1, Sec.-7, Dwarka, New Delhi - 45 1 UNIT - I FERROUS METAL: PRODUCTION OF STEELS AND ALLOYS STEELS STEEL Steel basically differs from cast iron in the amount of carbon content contained by it. It is not only the quantity of carbon which makes the difference but also the form in which it is present. In steel the amount of carbon present is upto 1.5 percent and it is completely in the combined form. Higher the percentage of this carbon, harder and tougher is the steel. Carbon content cannot be increased in the metal in chemically combined form beyond 1.5 percent. If this proportion is increased beyond this limit it moves the metal into the category of cast iron. Thus, steel can be said to be an alloy of iron and carbon with the carbon content to a maximum of 1.5 percent. These steels are called plain carbon steels because they owe their properties mainly to the percentage of carbon present in them. These steels are classified into different groups as follows: Dead mild steel - having carbon below 0.15 percent. Mildsteel - having carbon from 0.15 to 0.3 percent. Medium carbon steels - having carbon from 0.3 to 0.8 percent. High carbon steels- having carbon from 0.8 to 1.5 percent. It should, however, be noted that the carbon percentages in the above four types of plain carbon steels are not very rigid. Some sort of overlapping from one to another is always there. A particular range of high carbon steels having more than 1.0 percent carbon is known as carbon tool steel or cast steel. Applications The above four classes of plain carbon steels have various applications in engineering and other requirements and their selection for a particular purpose depends upon several factors like suitability for fabrication process, wear resistance, machinability, nature and extent of the stresses to which it is likely to be subjected and similar other factors. A few typical uses of these steels are given in Table 3.1. TABLE 3.1. APPLICATIONS OF PLAIN CARBON STEELS Types of steel Applications Dead mild steel. Welded and solid drawn tubes, thin sheets and wire rods. Mild steel. Forgings, stampings, structural sections such as angles and channels, plates for boilers and ships, bars and rods, wire, tubes and castings. Medium carbon steel. Drop forgings, boiler drums, marine shafts and axles, rotors and discs, agricultural tools and implements, aero engine cylinders, high tensile tubes and wires, bright drawn bars, castings for automobile engine components, laminated springs for automobiles, helical springs, locomotive types, wire ropes, steel spokes, clutch plates. Large forging dies, hammers and snaps for pneumatic riverters etc. High carbon steel having Springs, shear blades, wood chisels, cold sets, hammers, 0.8 % carbon. small forging dies, boiler maker’s tools. 0.9 % carbon. Cold chisels, cold working dies, punches and dies. 1.0 % carbon. Springs, broaches, drifts, reamers. 1.1 % carbon Press dies, punches, milling cutters, anvils, taps, wood working tools. 1.2 % carbon Taps, drills, screwing dies. 1.3 % carbon Files, razors, metal cutting tools for lathe, planer and slotter, mandrels and drawing dies. 1.4 -1.5 % carbon Lathe tools for machining harder metals, gauges, engraving tools. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON THE DEGREE OF DEOXIDATION Yet another basis of classification of steels is the degree of deoxidation occuring during its production. On this basis the steels are classified as : 1. Killed steel This steel is very severely deoxidised. Therefore, there is no evolution of gases during solidification and the 2 Aircraft Metallurgy solidified metal is free of usual casting defects like blow holes, pin holes, porosity, segregation, etc. It, therefore, carries a very sound composition and exhibits uniformity in its properties. Most of the steels having more than 0.25 percent carbon are killed, especially the forging steels. These steels are denoted by the symbol ‘K’. 2. Semi-killed steel It is also known as balanced steel. Almost 90 percent of the total steel produced falls in this category. Its degree of deoxidation falls between that of the killed steel, which is completely deoxidized, and the rimmed steel, which is only partially deoxidized. Obviously, this steel will not show the same level of uniformity of properties as the killed steel. Most of the structural steels, carrying carbon content between 0.15 percent to 0.25 percent, fall in this semi-killed category. This class of steels meets the main requirements of structural steels, i.e., having a sound outer surface, free of blow holes. No symbol has been standardized to represent this class of steel. 3. Rimmed steel As already stated above, this steel is only partially deoxidized. The basic objective of rimming the steel is to produce a clean surface carrying low carbon content. For this very reason dead mild steel, i.e., the plain carbon steel with carbon content below 0.15 percent, is usually rimmed. The rimmed steel is widely preferred for such manufacturing processes through which the out coming products are desired to have good surface finish and which need the steel having good formability, viz., rolling, deep drawing, spinning, etc. ‘R’ is the standard symbol used to denote this class of steel. STEEL PRODUCTION METHODS In accordance with the requirements associated with various types of applications of steel a number of methods of manufacture of steel have been developed. They will not be dealt with in detail. 1. Cementation process It is the oldest steel making process. In this process the wrought iron bars are embedded in charcoal inside the cementation furnace. The temperature of the furnaces gradually raised to full redness, at which it is maintained for about 7 to 10 days. During this period iron bars absorb carbon from the charcoal, the outer skin absorbing more carbon and the inner core less. Due to some air leakage into the furnace carbon mono-oxide is formed which forms blisters on the surface of the metal making it very rough. The produced metal structure lacks considerably in homogeneity and uniformity. This metal is called blister steel. Quality of this metal can, however, be improved to some extent by reheating, hammering, rolling etc. 2. Crucible process The poor qualities of blister steel produced through cementation process cannot be improved to the required extent through hammering and rolling etc. For refining this steel the crucible process is used in order to impart greater homogeneity and uniformity of structure to it. The furnace consist of a number of small pit furnaces arranged together. Each of these carries two small crucibles, each holding about 20 to 25 kg metal. The crucibles are first heated to white heat and then charged. The charge usually consists of suitable proportions of cut or broken small pieces of swedish iron, blister steel bars, pig iron and alloying elements. After the metal is fully melted it is ‘killed’i.e., heated for a sufficient length of time after fusion, so as to eliminate the gases from it. Small amounts of magnesium or aluminium may be added to the molten metal during ‘killing’ process to accelerate the gas elimination. After this, the crucibles are pulled out of the furnace, slag removed from the surface of the metal and the latter poured into cast iron ingot moulds. This is then known as crucible cast steel or simply crucible steel. These steels are of very high quality but the process is very expensive. However, its use becomes almost unavoidable when production in small quantities of high grade alloy steels is desired. 3. Open hearth process It is also known as Siemen’s process after the name of its originator Mr. Siemen, a German engineer, who was the first to introduced the idea of using a regenerator for preheating the sir for combustion before entering the open hearth furnace.Two types of open hearth furnaces are in use in this process. The selection of a particular type will depend upon the composition of the raw material used for steel making. Basic lined furnaces are used for making steel from such raw material which contains high percentage of phosphorus and sulphur. Against this, the acid lined furnace is not capable to remove these element. Hence, the raw material required for this furnace should have very low proportions of these elements. Basic Furnace It is a reverberatory type rectangular furnace having mostly the brickwork structure. Its sides and ends are properly supported on channels and slabs etc.