Opportunities and challenges for use of SSM forming in the aerospace industry

Abstract

SSM is now considered an established technology to produce high integrity near net shape components for the automotive industry in particular. Although it is used extensively in the automotive industry, very little attention has been given to aerospace applications. SSM processing does demonstrate the potential to replace certain hogout components in commercial aircraft with the main aim to reduce costs while maintaining high strength to weight ratios. In order to achieve this it will require developing processes to reliably cast components with consistent properties to meet aerospace requirements. Since SSM forming is a relatively new process, materials properties data bases for components produced using this technique is very limited. One of the major challenges is the generation of a data base of material properties to assist design engineers for design of components, as well to assess the life expectancy and development maintenance schedules.