LightLand

For aviation to achieve net zero emissions and meet rising demand for passenger and freight travel, aircraft efficiency must be significantly improved. Recent changes replacing Aluminium with carbon fibre and steel with titanium have shown the impact advanced materials can have on fuel burn and hence emissions. But there remain components in aircraft such as landing gear systems, where the loading conditions, operating environment and component life expectancy exceed the performance of conventional lightweight materials mentioned above. TISICS ultra lightweight metal composites can now deliver the exceptional performance landing gear systems need in very demanding environments. With stiffness double that of titanium and compression strength 50% to 100% greater than steel, titanium composites would be a good alternative. Increased corrosion resistance and can be very low material waste net-shape manufacture means they are an exceptional solution to create lighter aircraft. Most direct replacement components are 35% lighter than the current solutions, but utilising design optimisation methods many future parts can be up to 70% lighter. For example replacing the major tubular components on an Airbus A320 with titanium and aluminium matrix composites would save over 1000kg per plane and deliver over 2 million tonnes of CO2 emission reduction for the world A320 fleet. This project will in the first phase, identify a limited number of landing gear components where metal matrix composites offer significant weight savings, can be manufactured to demonstrator level and have the potential for viable production economics in the near term. The UK a world-leader in the production of continuous fibre reinforced metal matrix composites. This project accelerates the current development status towards near term product development and product opportunities. Successful completion of the project will generate the success needed for industrialisation investment and early product entry on current airframes as well as the baseline case for radical new aircraft and systems in development for a 2050 net zero aviation target.