An Experiment of Machineable Width and Thickness of Airframe Thin Plate Structure

The most important factor in an aircraft manufacturing is stability and weight reduction. Most of aircraft components are designed with thin plate type to satisfy weight reduction needs. The thin plate is difficult to be machined because it is apt to be vibrated by dynamic force generated in milling process. The most critical factor in machining of aluminum thin plate is width and thickness between stiffeners. So we tested many cases to find out the machinable minimum thickness at different width between stiffeners. And with the data obtained from many tests, this papers suggested the standard width thickness relation that is machinable without vacuum fixture. Machinist will be able to reduce the cost of aircraft thin plate parts by reducing the number of vacuum fixture used by the help of this standard.