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Do airlines that have a “bare metal” livery still coat the planes with something, then? (I assume there’s a clear coat.) Does that weigh less than white paint?
by Aqua_Geek 3y ago
Do airlines that have a “bare metal” livery still coat the planes with something, then? (I assume there’s a clear coat.) Does that weigh less than white paint?
- NegativeLatency 3y agoDoes anyone still do that? American Airlines has a white base now.
- hiharryhere 3y agoAmerican stopped because the new composite planes like the 787 aren’t metal any more.
- ethbr1 3y agoI'd assume the alternative is probably the same weight as paint, as the bulk of the paint mass is likely the protective polyurethane/whatever. Or to put it another way, does clear paint weigh less than colored?
- dylan604 3y agoPigment does have weight. I'm not sure of anything useful that has no mass.
- crazygringo 3y agoNo, there is no clear coating. It's bare metal that gets polished: > The metallic fuselage skin of modern airplanes is made of alclad aluminum alloy. The word “alclad” means a thin layer of pure aluminum is applied over the entire aluminum alloy fuselage skin, generally a variant of 2024 alloy, at manufacture. This pure aluminum layer almost immediately turns into aluminum oxide: and then begins its magic. A bit of polish applied periodically keeps the pure aluminum layer at a silver shine, otherwise it grows dull — but still continues to protect. https://www.quora.com/Why-did-American-Airlines-stop-painting-their-planes-silver-any-other-reasons-beside-the-reflection/answer/Krishna-Kumar-Subramanian?ch=15&oid=85476656&share=2fc4fffe&srid=3AY&target_type=answer https://www.quora.com/Why-did-American-Airlines-stop-paintin...
- ethbr1 3y agoIs that still used in modern aircraft though? Depositing a layer of pure Al on the surface seems... heavy. Especially if you have access to high performance paints.
- crazygringo 3y agoAbsolutely: > Alclad has been most commonly present in certain elements of an aircraft, including the fuselage, structural members, skin, and cowls. The aluminium alloy that Alclad is derived from has become one of the most commonly used of all aluminium-based alloys. While unclad aluminium has also continued to be extensively used on modern aircraft, which has a lower weight than Alclad, it is more prone to corrosion; the alternating use of the two materials is often defined by the specific components or elements that are composed of them. In aviation-grade Alclad, the thickness of the outer cladding layer typically varies between 1% and 15% of the total thickness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alclad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alclad
- ethbr1 3y agoYes, I read Wikipedia before posting. It's unclear where exactly alclad is used in modern aircraft.