The Boeing Company

John R Wooten

Clifford C Bampton

High strength aluminum alloy rivets are provided in which the aluminum alloys exhibit high strength at atmospheric temperatures and maintain high strength and ductility at extremely low temperatures. The rivets are produced from an alloy which is made by blending about 89 atomic % to 99 atomic % aluminum, 1 atomic % to 11 atomic % of a secondary metal selected from the group consisting of magnesium, lithium, silicon, titanium, zirconium, and combinations thereof, and up to about 10 atomic % of a tertiary metal selected from the group consisting of Be, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, W, and combinations thereof. The alloy is produced by nanostructure material synthesis, such as cryomilling, in the absence of extrinsically added refractory dispersoids. The synthesized alloy is then consolidated and formed into a solid or blind rivet. Grain size within the rivet is less than 0.5 &#x3bc;m, and the rivet has exceptional thermal stability, resistance to strain localization cracking during rivet head upsetting, and resistance to stress corrosion cracking during service.

Method for preparing rivets from cryomilled aluminum alloys and rivets produced thereby

An method for the rapid manufacturing of aerospace replacement partsis provided, including removing an in-service aerospace part from an aerospace system. The present invention further includes placing the in-service aerospace part into a three-dimensional scanning device. The invention then scans the in-service aerospace part utilizing the three-dimensional scanning device to develop a three-dimensional scan. A computer-aided-design model is then developed based on the three-dimensional scan. The invention then direct metal fabricates a replacement aerospace part from the computer-aided-design model utilizing layer-build technology device. Finally the replacement aerospace part is installed back into the aerospace system

Growing community of inventors

Simi Valley, CA, United States of America

John R Wooten