Duralumin

Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duralum, duraluminium, duralium or dural) is the trade name of one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys.

Alloying elements

The main alloying constituents are copper, manganese, and magnesium. A commonly used modern equivalent of this alloy type is AA2024, which contains 4.4% copper, 1.5% magnesium, 0.6% manganese and 93.5% aluminium by weight. Typical yield strength is 450 MPa (65 ksi), with variations depending on the composition and temper.^[1]

History

Duralumin was developed by the German metallurgist Alfred Wilm at Dürener Metallwerke Aktien Gesellschaft.

In 1903, Wilm discovered that after quenching, an aluminium alloy containing 4% copper would slowly harden when left at room temperature for several days. Further improvements led to the introduction of duralumin in 1909.^[2] The name is obsolete today, and mainly used in popular science to describe the Al-Cu alloy system, or '2000' series, as designated by the International Alloy Designation System (IADS) originally created in 1970 by the Aluminum Association.

Aviation applications

Its first use was in rigid airship frames eventually including all those of the "Great Airship" era of the 1920s and 1930s: the German passenger Zeppelins LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, LZ 129 Hindenburg, LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II, and U.S. Navy airships USS Los Angeles (ZR-3, ex-LZ 126), USS Akron (ZRS-4) and USS Macon (ZRS-5).^[3][4] Its composition and heat treatment were a wartime secret. With this new rip-resistant mixture, duralumin quickly spread throughout the aircraft industry in the early 1930s, where it was well suited to the new monocoque construction techniques that were being introduced at the same time. Duralumin also is popular for use in precision tools such as levels because of its light weight and strength.

The earliest known attempt to use duralumin for a heavier-than-air aircraft structure occurred in 1916, when Hugo Junkers first introduced its use in the creation of the Junkers J 7's airframe, a single-engined monoplane that marked the first use of the Junkers trademark duralumin corrugated skinning. Only the covered wings and tubular fuselage framework of the J 3 were ever completed, before the project was abandoned - the slightly later Junkers J.I armored sesquiplane had its all-metal wings and horizontal stabilizer made in the same manner as the J 3's wings had been, along with the experimental and airworthy all-duralumin Junkers J 7 single seat fighter design, which led to the Junkers D.I low-wing monoplane fighter introducing all-duralumin aircraft structural technology to German military aviation in 1918.

Corrosion protection

Although the addition of copper improves strength, it also makes these alloys susceptible to corrosion. For sheet products, corrosion resistance can be greatly enhanced by metallurgical bonding of a high-purity aluminium surface layer. These sheets are referred to as alclad, and are commonly used by the aircraft industry.^[5]

Applications

List of typical uses for the wrought Al-Cu alloys:^[1]

• 2011: Wire, rod, and bar for screw machine products. Applications where good machinability and good strength are required.
• 2014: Heavy-duty forgings, plate, and extrusions for aircraft fittings, wheels, and major structural components, space booster tankage and structure, truck frame and suspension components. Applications requiring high strength and hardness including service at elevated temperatures.
• 2024: Aircraft structures, rivets, hardware, truck wheels, screw machine products, and other structural applications.
• 2036: Sheet for auto body panels.
• 2048: Sheet and plate in structural components for aerospace application and military equipment.
• 2141: Plate in thicknesses of 40 to 150 mm (1.6 to 5.9 in) for aircraft structures.
• 2218: Forgings; aircraft and diesel engine pistons; aircraft engine cylinder heads; jet engine impellers and compressor rings.
• 2219: Welded space booster oxidizer and fuel tanks, supersonic aircraft skin and structure components. Readily weldable and useful for applications over temperature range of −270 to 300 °C (−454.00 to 572.00 °F). Has high fracture toughness, and the T8 temper is highly resistant to stress-corrosion cracking.
• 2618: Die and hand forgings. Pistons and rotating aircraft engine parts for operation at elevated temperatures. Tire molds.

References

v t e Aluminium alloy 1000 Series 1050 1060 1100 1199 2000 Series 2014 2024 2219 3000 Series 3003 3004 3102 4000 Series 4041 4043 5000 Series 5005 5052 5059 5083 5086 5154 5356 5454 5456 5754 6000 Series 6005 6060 6061 6063 6066 6070 6082 6105 6111 6162 6262 6351 6463 7000 Series 7005 7022 7046 7068 7072 7075 7079 7116 7129 7178 8000 Series 8000 8090