W  ith customers that include Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier and Dassault, Rio Tinto Alcan’s r&d teams in Voreppe, France, have developed many new alloys and tempers, primarily to reduce the weight of components used to build their aircraft. “Our r&d efforts have a direct impact on aircraft programmes. More than 20 new Alcan alloys responding to specific property requirements were developed and are used in the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787,” says Christophe Villemin, president of Alcan Global Aerospace, Transportation and Industry (Alcan Global ATI). “For example, compared with incumbent alloys, typical property improvements of 10-20% were achieved in strength and damage tolerance.” Aluminium has long been used in aerospace applications, but there is still scope to develop even lighter and more corrosion-resistant products and processing techniques. According to Alcan Global ATI, more aluminium alloys have been developed in the last ten years than in the previous three decades to adjust to...