Glass fiber and Aluminum hybrid could save maintenance costs and reduce aircraft weight
The U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa, materials-technology company GTM Advanced Structures and scientists at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have patented a fiber metal laminate (FML) called CentrAl reinforced aluminum, or CentrAl, for use in aircraft manufacture. CentrAl provides some 25 percent more tensile strength than high-strength aluminum alloys, is extremely resistant to metal …