What are aeroplanes made of?

Question

I searched the internet, but getting results for toy aeroplanes only.

I want to know what material, the real aeroplanes which are used for commercial purpose and freight, have their main body made up of.

Also, if you know it, it would be also good to add the history of this subject, as in, what was the material used in making planes before, and how it evolved (the stages) into the stuff used in modern times.

Thanks in advance!

I

Answer 1

Aircraft materials have varied throughout the years.

Just briefly, older designs and some are still flying were wood frames covered in fabric that was then treated with a shrinking agent commonly called "dope." The Piper cub is a good example. Some newer models like Maules are aluminum alloy frames covered in a plastic urethane material known as ceconite.

The majority of aircraft are aluminum or alloy frames covered in aluminum sheeting. There are a lot of new aircraft coming out now that are made almost entirely of composite materials. Most of these have a carbon fiber core covered with a composite plastic-like covering bonded to it. Some of the earlier examples of this process did not last too long. The modern methods are much more durable and likely to last just as long if not longer than their aluminum counterparts. Cirrus aircraft are good examples of modern composite airframes.

Answer 2

The main fuselage (body), as well as the majority of the material used, is aluminum.

Most commercial aircraft use "Alclad", which is a thin veneer of highly polished aluminum on the outer surface (think American Airlines)

Most structural aluminum is 7076T6 aluminum.

Many other metals are also used. Stainless, CRESS, Magnesium, titanium, Minel, etc.

The new Boeing 787 is being made with the outer "skin" of composite materials

Answer 3

Most commerial planes are made of aluminum, I would guess the first planes were made of wood rope and cloth with perhaps a shelac to make the cloth firm. I'm no wilbur wright, but that's what I would have used. Some of the latest planes use every high tech matrerial known to man or alien, such as carbon fiber, fancy alloys, and memory metals discovered at the famous Roswell, NM weather baloon crash in the 1950's.

Answer 4

Everything from aluminum and steel to fabric and wood. More modern aircraft also are made of composites structures including fiberglass and carbon fiber. Also titanium and other exotic metals are used to a lesser degree.

There is a huge variety of materials, it would help if you narrowed it down to a certain type of aircraft.

Answer 5

The first aircraft were made of wood, typically spruce as it is strong, light and resistant to rot. The covering was fabric coated in dope to shrink the fabric. Although some smaller aircraft are still made this way, this method was used primarily up to the second world war. Several aircraft during the war were still made of wood, the Mosquito was wood and so was the largest aircraft every built...Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose. Leading up to the war aircraft were starting to be built out of aluminium. Aluminium has been the primary material for aircraft since the war and most are still built with aluminium as the main material. The fuselage(body) is made of 2024-T3 which is an aluminium-copper alloy, as is the lower wing plank as 2024-T3 is good in tension. Upper wing planks are made of 7076-T6 which is a aluminium-zinc alloy which is good in compression. Other materials include carbon fibre re-inforced plastic which is carbon fibres impregnated with epoxy resin, fibre glass, Kevlar, titanium, stainless steel and inconel. The B787 Dreamliner is the latest from Boeing which has a carbon fibre skin instead of Aluminium.

Answer 6

Most of the 170,000 airplanes built during World War I were constructed of wooden frames with fabric coverings. These materials were relatively lightweight and available. Anthony Fokker, a Dutch entrepreneur working in Germany during the war, developed a welded-tube steel fuselage to take the place of wood. German manufacturers built more than 1,000 of these aircraft, which had wooden wings. Hugo Junkers, a German designer, built all-metal aircraft, first using sheet iron. He soon switched to duralumin, a high-strength aluminum alloy developed just before the war. After the war, Junkers developed several all-metal passenger transports....I suggest you go thru' two lovely sites mentioned below...

Answer 7

Generally aluminum and some use carbon fiber.

Answer 8

it is a mix of composite material, and aircraft grade aluminum. could be carbon fiber, or fiber glass