4 Aerospace Materials That Are Shaping Today’s Manufacturing

Make no mistake. Aerospace continues to be a major force in manufacturing — and a vital boon to the metalworking industry.

First, take a look at the numbers: PwC reports that global revenue across the top 100 aerospace and defense companies reached $922 billion in 2024, a significant rise from $829 billion in 2023.

Global industry projections for aerospace materials are robust. The materials market was valued at $37.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $57.9 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 8.8 percent for that five-year span, according to MarketsandMarkets Research.

Growth in aerospace manufacturing is being fueled by a number of factors, including a rebound in commercial aircraft orders, rising defense budgets amid global tensions and rapid expansion of the commercial space sector. It’s also a nice chunk of the U.S. manufacturing economy, which means there’s plenty of parts-making, aircraft components and custom subcontracting work from the major aviation and defense players for global players right here in the U.S.

At the same time, there’s an ongoing effort to lower operating costs and make the aerospace industry more sustainable. To realize potential cost savings of 20 to 50 percent, manufacturing engineers are under pressure to use less fuel by reducing an aircraft’s weight and ease some assembly burden; some composites, for example, allow complex components to be assembled using automated layup machinery and rotational molding processes, according to ThoughtCo.

How Modern Aerospace Materials Are Used in the Industry

For nearly a century, aluminum was the dominant material in aerospace manufacturing, chosen for its light weight, strength and relatively low cost. It defined the first generation of all-metal aircraft and continued to serve as the backbone of aerospace engineering for decades. Today, however, the material mix looks very different.

Modern jets contain significantly less pure aluminum, with many noncritical structures, such as paneling and interior components, replaced by advanced composites like carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) and honeycomb materials.

At the same time, critical components such as engine parts demand metals that can balance lighter weight with the ability to withstand extreme heat and stress. This has led to wider adoption of titanium alloys, high-performance superalloys, and other advanced materials that were once considered too costly or difficult to machine.

For manufacturers and machine shops, these changes bring both challenges and opportunities. Toolmakers and equipment providers must keep pace with evolving material requirements, developing solutions that can handle tougher machining conditions, extend tool life and support efficiency goals across the aerospace supply chain.

Common Aerospace Materials

Here, we outline four of the most prominent materials currently used in aerospace machining and fabrication.

1. Heat-Resistant and Lightweight Alloys

Traditional aluminum is still part of aerospace machining; however, the way in which that material is being crafted has changed. More aircraft structures are being built with newer, modified alloys, including materials previously thought to be too exotic, difficult to maneuver or expensive.

Heat-resistant alloys are often used to develop the engines (one of the most complex parts of the aircraft that needs to withstand scorching temperatures of 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2,100 degrees Celsius) and includes: titanium alloys, nickel alloys and nonmetal composite materials like ceramics. The latter, however, can be tough to shape despite its ability to withstand high temperatures. Titanium alloys, nickel alloys and nonmetal composite materials are similarly difficult to mend and mold without losing structural integrity.

Two alloys that have been around since the 1970s, titanium aluminide (TiAl) and aluminum lithium (Al-Li), are gaining popularity in the aerospace industry for their ability to both withstand high temperatures and improve the thrust-to-weight ratio in aircraft engines, as the two materials weigh half what traditional nickel alloys weigh.

2. Composite Materials

Heat resistance is a top priority for engineers, but so is the overall weight of a material. Enter composites. According to Polymer Technologies, composite materials are lightweight, which enables manufacturers to build aircraft that are more fuel-efficient and ultimately safer for passengers. Composite material (or material comprised of metals or plastics with precise amounts of additives) use in aerospace has doubled every five years since 1987, reports ThoughtCo.

There are three main types of composite materials: carbon fiber, glass and aramid-reinforced epoxy. Carbon-fiber composite blends are the most poised for growth and innovation. NitPro Composites reports that the global carbon-fiber composites market size is projected to grow from $21.95 billion in 2024 to $39.39 billion by 2034, a compounded annual growth rate of 6.02%.

According to Honeywell, using carbon-fiber composites instead of metal to build wings can cut fuel consumption by 5%. In addition, composites (and not just carbon-fiber blends) can withstand high resistance and fatigue.

However, composites are not without their challenges. Composite repairs, for example, are often done by hand. The cost of materials and production time are also major issues for aircraft manufacturers.

3. Nanoparticles

Sometimes, it’s not heat resistance alone that aerospace manufacturers are after; it’s fighting the electrical forces of nature.

Metal-matrix nanocomposites, also known as reinforced metal matrix composites, are one of the most important nanocomposites for their high tensile strength and electrical conductivity. There are several other types of nanoparticles being used, including polymer- and ceramics-based versions.

Unsurprisingly, aircraft are susceptible to lightning strikes, which makes metallic underwiring (even with carbon-fiber elements) a somewhat dangerous ingredient. To combat that danger, businesses use nanoparticles in the CFRP wing to shield against electromagnetic interferences.

“Nanocomposites are the materials of [the] twenty-first century having an annual growth rate of 25% due to their multifunctional capabilities,” researchers said in a 2017 paper published in Applied Nanoscience.  “Chemical property like resistance or passiveness to corrosion is of prime importance [in aerospace]. Apart from low weight requirements, aerospace structures pose requirement of mechanical properties for design like strength, toughness, fatigue life, impact resistance and scratch resistance.”

4. Graphene

Graphene is a material more manufacturers are incorporating into their designs. Why? Because of the variety of electrical applications. For one, graphene is used in epoxy resins that boost the electrical conductivity of carbon composites in fuselages.

Graphene “ticks all the boxes when it comes to meeting the challenges facing the aeronautics sector: decarbonization through lighter structures, but also other performance features such as lightning protection thanks to its electrical conductivity, de-icing thanks to its thermal characteristics, and equipment protection thanks to its anti-corrosion properties,” writes Terrance Barkan. 

According to Grand View Research, the global graphene market size was estimated at $195.7 million in 2023 and is projected to reach $1.6 billion by 2030, a compounded annual growth rate of 35.1% from 2024 to 2030.

The industry that once relied almost entirely on aluminum has evolved into using a complex mix of composites, alloys and other modern materials. For aerospace manufacturers, mastering this evolving palette of materials is essential to building the next generation of safer, lighter and more sustainable aircraft.