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In my structures design work at Aurora Flight Sciences, galvanic corrosion due to contact between aluminum and various metallic alloys was a concern; aluminum alloys which are common in aircraft (rather than heavier steel) are especially susceptible to galvanic corrosion. We accounted for this by in a few ways. We would put a non-conductive material such as fiberglass between the carbon fiber and metal to electrically isolated them. There are various other methods as well.

 

Fatigue was another ever-present concern because due to numerous changes in loading to the aircraft structure every second, structural components are repeatedly stressed in cycles. Fatigue testing for the aircraft's expected lifetime is a very important component of aircraft design and manufacturing. I was not exposed to fatigue testing however.

 

As a pilot, structural fatigue and corrosion are a concern. When I pre-flight a plane, I am limited to checking externally visible structure for missing parts like rivets or screws, as well as for cracks and the corrosion. However, airplane mechanics are expected to perform more thorough inspections especially on the internal structure to look for fatigue and corrosion.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.