Corrosion and fatigue research — structural issues and relevance to naval aviation

The sea environment is the most structurally hostile of environments within which aircraft operate. Naval aviation operations routinely expose structural components to salt spray and high loads, especially during landings. The result is component lives occasionally end prematurely due to corrosion-assisted fatigue, or fatigue with other compounding factors. The occurrences of these unplanned events increase with the number of years an aircraft remains in service. The susceptibility of aging aircraft to structural demise demands that we institute a paradigm shift to our approach to designing, maintaining and managing metallic aircraft structures subjected to repetitive loads and corrosive environment. Is corrosion and fatigue research heading in the right direction to solve real and potential problems in aging naval aircraft? This paper provides an overview of how we validate and assess service life. The key issues involved in managing life-critical parts during their operation are the adjusting of inspections, and the effect of operational discoveries of flaws or failures, which disrupt our perceptions of the structural condition, on total life designation. The management issues with respect to an aging operation fleet of naval aircraft will be described from the view of the structural life management team. Research in corrosion and fatigue of metals must answer to the tactical aircraft managerʹs needs. For structures and materials research to transition into practice, it must focus on producing data and test results useful for making life decisions.