Aviation and space
Aluminium has major advantages for being used in the aerospace industry, including its light weight and energy efficiency.
Today, aluminium accounts for 50-90% of total aircraft and spacecraft weight. This is aluminium that allows engineers to create light, energy efficient, corrosion-resistant craft with maximum holding capacity.
The aerospace industry applies 2ххх, 3ххх, 5ххх, 6ххх, 7ххх and 8ххх series alloys. The 7075 alloy consisting of aluminium, zinc, magnesium and copper has the widest application in the aerospace industry. In terms of its strength, this alloy is not inferior to medium-strength steels (tensile strength of over 520 MPa), but it is three times lighter.
Aircraft designers continue to look for materials that will make an aircraft lighter. The most promising materials in this respect are new aluminium-lithium and aluminium-scandium alloys.
Aluminium oxide is also a solid fuel for rocket boosters activating the first stage of spacecraft. For example, the world's most powerful carrier rocket Saturn-5, capable of bringing a 140-tonne cargo into low Earth orbit, burns about 36 tonnes of aluminium oxide powder over the period of flight.
