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Article: NEW MATERIALS & PROCESSES: Keeping pace with composites.
- Article from:
- Metalworking Production
- Article date:
- March 20, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Centaur Communications Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By David Aspinwall & Leung Soo, Machining Research Group, University of Birmingham
The breakdown for workpiece materials used in industry is around 75% ferrous (decreasing as a percentage of the total) and 25% non- ferrous/non-metallic (increasing, largely due to greater use of aluminium and titanium alloys - and, in particular, composites). Weight reduction is a key driver especially in the automotive and aerospace sectors where power to weight ratios and the linkage to fuel consumption are benchmark measures.
In a Telegraph magazine article Paul Bray commented: 'Prior to the 1980s, the only people to make aircraft out of plastic were small boys'. ...