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MEETING CHALLENGE – THE WAY AHEAD
Aviation and airport facilities also occupy a significant role in globalisation overall
and play a key part of a nation’s economic activities through encouraging international
business, commerce and tourism. The vital measurement of the economic benefits from
air travel is that aviation transports close to two billion passengers annually and 40% of
interregional exports of goods (by value), generating 29 million jobs worldwide.
20
With
respect to airport construction, it was estimated that over USD 385 billion of projects
were under construction in 2013/14 with China leading the way with 59 regional airports
to be completed by 2015.
21
Nevertheless, it is important to reiterate that welding was of
fundamental importance in the construction of modern airport infrastructure and in the
modes of transport used by these facilities.
The Airbus A380, first introduced into service in October 2007, is
typical of the newgeneration of wide-bodied commercial aircraft that has used
the latest materials and joining technologies in their construction, including
composite materials that comprised 20% of the airframe, and carbon-fibre
and glass-fibre reinforced plastics, which have been used extensively in the
wings and fuselage.
22
In achieving the technical and commercial success of
an aircraft such as this, advanced materials and welding techniques such as
laser beam welding, friction stir welding and adhesive bonding were to play
a critical role in reducing the Airbus A380s structural weight by as much as
25%, producing an aircraft that unquestionably was much more efficient all
around.
23
The Boeing Dreamliner 787, smaller in size than the A380, was
the first commercial aircraft to have a composite fuselage, wings and other
structural components of the aircraft thereby achieving considerable savings
in the structural weight as a result of the latest advanced joining techniques
for these materials.
China has also contributed significantly to advances in the
weldingand joiningof aerospacematerials through the facilities of the
Beijing Aeronautical Manufacturing Technology Research Institute
(BAMTRI) and its Deputy Director of Science and Technology, Prof.
Dr Guan Qiao. Qiao was responsible for the development and success
of many innovations in joining materials including low stress, non-
distortion TIG welding of thin walled structural elements used
in aerospace applications. IIW, in many ways, was to contribute
to the work undertaken by Qiao and his colleagues through
the collegial relationship with many experts within IIW’s
Commissions, including Mr Ernest Levert (USA) who assisted
and provided expert opinion on the latest developments in
Guan Qiao