Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology

The Future of Landing Gear Steels

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, (1991),"The Future of Landing Gear Steels", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 63 Iss 10 pp. 11 - 11
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The Future of
Landing Gear
Steels
STOCKSBRIDGE Engineering Steels
(SES) is a manufacturer of specialised
steels for the aerospace industry, supply­
ing major airframe, engine and aerospace
equipment companies including Airbus
Industrie, Boeing, Dowty, Rolls-Royce,
Messier-Bugatti and Westland Helicop­
ters.
Hugh Everson, SES's manager of
Downloaded by University of Toronto At 22:05 04 June 2016 (PT)
Product Metallurgy explains why steel
will continue to play an important part
in critical components such as landing
gear.
Predictions about the future metal
content of aircraft suggest a significant
reduction in terms of the proportion of
overall weight. Composites and ceramics
are superseding light metals and other
alloys as manufacturers look to lighten
structures and reduce flying costs.
Although overall metal weight will
drop significantly, the proportion of
steel is expected to see only a marginal
fall. It is widely accepted that areas of
heavy stress and load will continue to
rely on specialist aerospace steels.
This is largely due to the fact that for
many critical applications such as
landing gear components, control surface
actuators and engine gears and shafts,
steel continues to be the only cost-
effective materials solution. Non-metal-
lics and composites still cannot match
its combination of strength, toughness,
and ductility.
On a modern civil aircraft the weight
of the landing gear is approximately 4%
of total aircraft weight, compared with a
figure of around 7% in aircraft made 30
years ago.
The reduction in landing gear weight
is set against the increase in the average
size of aircraft and the general improve­
ment in performance.
The major constituent of the landing
gear in both large civil aircraft and
military aircraft is high strength steel,
the consistency and reliability of which
has been steadily enhanced through
improved manufacturing and testing
procedures.
AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING — October 1991
The process route adopted in the
manufacture of landing gear steels
differs from that used for less critical
industries. The majority of landing gear
steels are made by double melting
techniques that ensure freedom from
harmful non-metallic inclusions and
segregation. The process also refines the
structure and enhances toughness.
At Stocksbridge, landing gear steels
are made to an Ultra Clean Steel
Practice (UCSP) to provide a premium
quality electrode which is subsequently
remelted under vacuum (VAR) or
under a refining slag or flux (ESR).
Initial melting is carried out in an
electric arc furnace followed by refining
in a vacuum arc degassing vessel
(VAD). Casting of the electrode uses
specially developed refractories and
shrouded teeming techniques. Research
at Stocksbridge has shown that the
quality of the feedstock electrode is of
great importance in ensuring that the
final remelted ingot has optimum clean­
ness and properties. Specialist ultrasonic
inspection facilities can be used to
guarantee that the product meets the
most stringent requirements.
The inspectability of steel
One of the disadvantages of composites,
non-metallics and ceramics is the diffi­
culty that can be involved in examining
the finished product. As with steel,
quality has to be assured by stringent
control of the manufacturing process
itself but the inspectability of steel gives
it a definite advantage over composites,
as the quality can be verified by a
variety of inspection techniques.
In ceramics, for example, the flaws
responsible for failure are usually smaller
than 50μm and are therefore not
detectable by non-destructive testing
(NDT) techniques.
In contrast, high strength steels such
as AMS 6419 (a high silicon nickel,
chromium molybdenum steel commonly
known as 300M) and 35 NCD16 used
in aircraft undercarriages have fracture
toughness levels of 55 MPa m and 80
MPa m respectively. These values
give limited defect sizes of approximately
0.5 mm and 2.2 mm which can be
detected by well-developed NDT tech­
niques.
There are a number of different alloy
steels used in landing gear components.
Some of the most common are named
below:
Grade Type Tensile
Strength MPa
AMS 6419 1 3/4% Ni Si Cr Mo V 1930
AMS 6418 1 3/4% Ni Si Mn Mo Cr 1520
AMS 6411 1 3/4% Ni Cr Mo 1520
AMS 6414 1 3/4% Ni Cr Mo 1795
35 NCD 16 4%Ni Cr Mo 1850
DTD 5212 18% Ni Cr Mo 1800
S98 2 1/2% Ni Cr Mo 1200
S132 3% Cr Mo V 1320
The desire of aircraft manufacturers
to reduce overall weight means that
traditionally bulky components such as
landing gear are facing especial scrutiny.
The need to reduced weight is
accompanied by higher performance
expectations from designers. Increased
strength allows for a reduction in weight
but as important as this is the concurrent
need to provide improved toughness,
better temperature tolerance and im­
proved resistance to corrosion without
playing.
New brake designs for modern airlines
are exerting higher transient temperatures
on landing gear components in aborted
take-off situations. The fact that temp­
eratures above those used in heat
treatment may be encountered could
jeopardise the continued safe service of
components which normally operate at
ambient temperatures.
The current remedy for this sort of
eventuality is for the suspected parts to
be examined and, where necessary,
replaced. However, Stocksbridge is
leading research into the development
of materials that will withstand excur­
sions into these temperatures without
affecting properties, thereby adding an
extra margin of safety.
Despite the undisputed status of
specialised steels as the major constituent
of landing gear components, Stocks­
bridge recognises the pressing need to
continue to move forward. The require­
ments of the aerospace industry as a
whole will best be served by close co­
operation between designers and steel
manufacturers to maintain research
programmes to optimise alloy design.
Stocksbridge Engineering Steels,
Tel: 0742 882361.
11