[TheForge] work hardening question

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

To All,
Airplanes are made from aluminum.  The newer ones have a lot of titanium and 
composites but pre-composite planes like the 727, B-52, and others seem to do 
just fine.  As a matter of fact the ideal material for aircraft is aluminum 
because the elastic modulus / density ratio is the highest value for any 
economically available material.  Iron is a close second and titanium is way 
down the list.  They don't build cars from aluminum because aluminum does not 
rust and it is more expensive than steel.

Hochewa


In a message dated 1/28/02 11:21:23 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
meboettc@facstaff.wisc.edu writes:

<< Aluminum, on the other hand, will break with even very small stresses 
 applied to it.  It'll take millions/billions of cycles, but it WILL 
 break.  Its one of the main reasons that aluminum isn't used on production 
 cars (or so I've been told). >>