Alcoa Aerospace, Pittsburgh, announces that it has upgraded and expanded aluminum-lithium casting capacity at the Kitts Green plant in England. It has also expanded capacity by 30% at its Technology Center in Alcoa Center, Pa. The third phase of the expansion is a new $90 million facility under construction adjacent to the plant in Lafayette, Ind., that will provide an additional 20,000 metric tons of aluminum lithium.
The new facility will supply round and rectangular ingot for rolled, extruded, and forged applications in sizes compatible with the largest aluminum aerospace components in service today. The Lafayette expansion is scheduled to be completed and online by the end of 2014.
The Kitts Green expansion was the second phase of the three-part expansion program by the Company to satisfy customer demand for advanced aerospace products and patented alloys, which allow airframers to build more fuel efficient and lower-cost airplanes vs. composite alternatives.
Alcoa’s new aluminum lithium alloys provide the best strength-to-weight performance in Alcoa’s aerospace alloy portfolio combined with better stiffness, damage tolerance, and corrosion resistance. The alloys are used in extrusions, forgings, sheet and plate applications across aircraft structures, including airplane wings and fuselage components. The expansions follow discussions with airframers subsequent to the launch of the alloys. Alcoa projects its aluminum lithium revenues will quadruple over the next six years to nearly $200 million.
