Welding is a technology widely used in modern manufacturing industry. It has the advantages of fast speed and good sealing, and it is widely used in aerospace, ship and automobile manufacturing.
So can airplanes be welded during manufacturing?
The answer is no.
The main reasons are as follows: first, it is caused by the manufacturing materials of the aircraft.
Before the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350XWB, the main material used to make modern aircraft was aluminum.
This material has one outstanding characteristic — the welding performance is very poor.
After using the traditional welding method, the local stress concentration in the welding area makes the metal brittle, and it is easy to produce trachoma, bubbles, micro cracks and other defects, so that the performance of the structure in these locations is lower than that in the non-welding area.
This is not acceptable in aircraft manufacturing.
Although there are some special welding processes, such as friction stir welding and laser welding, the related technologies are too complex and difficult to ensure the stability of the process.
The thinner the material, the harder it is to weld.
The thickness of the aircraft skin is generally only about 2 mm, even if it can be welded, it will be very difficult, not general operators can be competent, is not conducive to aircraft mass production.
Boeing 787 and Airbus A350XWB body based on composite materials, these composite materials are a variety of single materials through the composite method, and then through a special process made, welding is more difficult than aluminum alloy, manufacturers almost do not use welding.
The second is the working characteristics of the aircraft.
When a plane is flying at high altitude and high speed, the skin of the fuselage is under tension.
The engine vibrates when it is working, and the aircraft itself vibrates.
The forces an airplane experiences on every flight are constantly changing, and fatigue is a problem.
Tensile force, vibration and fatigue are the main causes of welding degradation.
Working in such an environment for a long time, small cracks may develop in the welding joints.
What’s more, the crack will then expand along the weld, and even cause the plane to break up in the air, resulting in the death of the plane.
Riveting and screw joint have good vibration resistance, fatigue resistance and other characteristics, and due to the existence of connecting holes, naturally have the ability to resist crack expansion.
Finally, it is the characteristics of the aircraft.
The service life of aircraft is generally more than 20 years. There are many complex and precise instruments in the body. In the process of long-term use, various components may be damaged to different degrees.
If welding is used, the skin of the aircraft will have to be replaced completely, which will increase the cost of maintenance and the difficulty of a single repair.
Even if there is no equipment failure, aircraft need to be inspected and maintained regularly, including the need to take apart the joints for inspection and maintenance.
Welding is a non-removable connection, once disassembled, the structure is destroyed.
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