NASA and partners develop new tank forming method

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., have partnered with Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver and MT Aerospace in Augsburg, Germany, to develop and manufacture a 16.4-ft.-dia. fuel tank entirely out of aluminum lithium 2195 alloy.

The manufacture of the dome requires two commercial, off-the-shelf aluminum lithium 2195 plates that are joined using friction stir welding to produce a sufficiently large starting blank. The welded plate blank then is spun formed to create the single-piece tank dome.

In contrast, a typical dome is manufactured using the heavier, lower-strength aluminum alloy 2219 and requires eight gore panels, 10 welding steps, and multiple operations and inspections to be assembled into a full-scale tank dome.