Category: Aerospace & Defense Industry

Industries like medical, aerospace, and defense are all highly regulated because they require extreme precision for the tools and devices they use. From operating rooms to flight decks, the parts and assemblies used in all these industries can directly impact people’s health and safety. In most cases, as well, full assemblies are expensive machines facing dangerous conditions. Better precision limits the risk of equipment damage while operating. For over 40 years, MultiSource Manufacturing LLC has worked with OEMs and other customers in the aerospace and defense industries to fabricate essential parts for cockpit instruments, flight deck video systems, cargo handling, space systems, rocketry, and more. There are many different materials used in aerospace and defense manufacturing, from specialized polymers like Teflon™ to military-grade steels. We work with trusted suppliers to source every type of material needed to build flight-critical components and other assemblies used in defense and aerospace operations.

Military Grade Steels

Military-grade steels are unique alloys of steel with specialized properties that make them more resistant to the hazardous conditions they face. Not only are military-grade steels used to protect against ballistics and in the fabrication of weaponry, but they are also used for space travel and research.

Steels Used in Defense and Aerospace

Abrasion-resistant (AR) and MIL steels are among the most commonly used steels in aerospace and defense manufacturing.

• AR400: AR steels have high abrasion-resistant properties, making them much harder than other alloys. AR400 in particular, while still extremely durable, has a slightly lower hardness than other ARs. It has fair machining, good bending, and excellent welding properties.
• AR500: As another abrasion-resistant steel, AR500 is also a durable and hard alloy. Its higher hardness compared to AR400 makes it suitable for high impact and heavy wear conditions. Even at lower temperatures, AR500 maintains its high resistance to corrosion and impact stress.
• MIL-46100: MIL steels are also exceptionally hard alloys that are often used in armor plating and parts that will experience high impact scenarios. While hard, MIL-46100 still has good formability and weldability. It is lightweight and has extreme ballistic resistance.

Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Materials

• MIL-12560: Another armor plate steel used extensively in defense and aerospace manufacturing is MIL-12560. This steel has some of the highest ballistic resistance and can protect against explosives and other heavy impact shocks.
• MIL-46177: For lighter-gauge armor plating, MIL-46177 is a reliable military steel alloy. It’s often used in thicknesses from ⅛” to ¼”. MIL-46177 plates are made to have good mechanical properties for tensile and yield strength.
• A36: This steel has less than 0.3% carbon weight, making it easy to machine, weld, and form with. As a general manufacturing steel, A36 is a cost-effective material. It has a minimum yield strength of 36,000 pounds per square inch, making it a flexible and useful steel in the production of a wide range of defense and aerospace parts.

Summary

For more information about the military-grade steel and other materials we use in aerospace and defense manufacturing, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC today at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information or request a quote to get started with us.

Air travel and military air defense technology have advanced significantly since MultiSource Manufacturing LLC first entered the industry in 1968. Airplanes, jets, helicopters, rockets, space systems, and even drones are more capable and safer than ever before. While technology has changed in many ways over the last 40 years, there are also many components of aerospace engineering that have remained the same. While manufacturers have replaced older analog systems in favor of modern digital tech, many of the standard flight controls and instrumentation still follow the same principles and functions. In addition to the main functions of most flight deck instruments remaining the same over the years, the aerospace and defense industries still require some of the highest precision and reliable machining performance for all parts, components, and full assemblies. Today, MultiSource Manufacturing prototypes and fabricates a broad range of parts for the aerospace industry with multi-axis machining, Swiss turning machines, live tooling, and more. When it comes to aerospace and defense manufacturing, our engineers and technicians have decades of expertise.

Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing

There are many aspects of aerospace and defense manufacturing that have changed greatly over time, but the production of flight deck controls, sometimes called the “aviation six pack,” follows the same general shape and form. These six instruments, found in every aircraft, include:

• Airspeed indicator (ASI)
• Altimeter
• Attitude indicator
• Heading indicator
• Turn coordinator
• Vertical speed indicator

Oldest Types of Aviation Instruments

Of these six instruments, the airspeed indicator and the altimeter are some of the oldest types of aviation instruments, and they provide many important data points to the engineers, pilots, and flight deck in general.

Airspeed indicator (ASI):

The ASI measures several types of aircraft speed. Most often, four basic types of airspeed are measured. First, the indicated airspeed (IAS) shows a reading without consideration of atmospheric pressure, weather, and potential instrument errors. The ASI also reads the calibrated airspeed (CAS) that corrects for installation and instrument error, the true airspeed (TAS) that corrects for atmospheric changes with altitude, and the groundspeed (GS), which measures the actual speed of the aircraft over the ground.

 Altimeter:

Traditional altimeters measure the height of the aircraft above sea level, but there are several altimeter systems that provide more information adjusted for altitude factors. Most flight decks will include altimeters that read the indicated altitude, which is only accurate with the correct barometric pressure settings; the true altitude, which is the exact height above sea level; and the absolute altitude, which is the height above ground level. Modern aircraft will also use altimeters that read the pressure altitude, which shows the altitude reading calibrated to standard atmospheric levels, and the density altitude, which adjusts the pressure altitude reading for external temperature changes.

Original Six Pack

There are many other instruments that fill a flight deck and provide vital information, but those in the original six pack are some of the older tools still used in updated formats today.

To learn more about aerospace and defense manufacturing, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500, request more information, or request a quote