Structures and Materials

The Role

It’s the structures and materials engineer’s role to deal with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. In aircraft, the forces on the structure can be significantly different to a static object such as high G-force, negative Gs, extreme high and low temperatures, loading and offloading and other extreme forces. A focus on materials used to bear loads in the construction of the mainframe and fuselage is a huge part of the structures and materials engineer’s world. They work with the latest materials such as composites of various existing materials and light weight but tough carbon fibre, previously the reserve of military aircraft but now found on even the largest passenger aircraft, to provide strong but effective engineered solutions.

The Skills

Whilst it is possible to break into Structure and materials engineering with a MEng in Aerospace engineering it is something that can also be specialised in at postgraduate level. In the UK Cranfield run courses in structural and materials engineering at MSc level.

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Tuesday, November 12th, 2019 at 1:36am
It is a pleasure to listen to Dewar Donnithorne-Tait MA MBA FRAeS FIoD from the @AeroSociety UAS Specialist Group talk about Pilot Selection for Unmanned Aircraft #UAVSHOW @totalunmanned https://t.co/sUNJceUCOu

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