RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (RPI), IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DOE AMES LABORATORY (AMESLAB), IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY (ISU) AND GENERAL ELECTRIC RESEARCH (GE), PROPOSE A 3-YEARS PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A NEW CLASS OF TEMPERATURE RESISTANT AL-CE-BASED ALLOYS FOR APPLICATIONS IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY. THESE ALLOYS WILL HAVE TOUGHNESS, STRENGTH AND FATIGUE RESISTANCE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE SIMILAR TO THE BEST ALUMINUM ALLOYS CURRENTLY IN USE FOR AIRFRAME COMPONENTS, BUT WILL EXHIBIT SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCED RETENTION OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES UPON EXPOSURE TO ELEVATED TEMPERATURES. THIS WILL ALLOW APPLICATIONS OF THESE LIGHT ALUMINUM ALLOYS IN SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT DESIGN. THIS PROGRAM WILL CONSIDER A BROAD RANGE OF MATERIAL COMPOSITIONS, INCLUDING BINARY AL-CE, TERNARY AL-CE-MG AND QUATERNARY AL-CE-MG-ZN AND AL-CE-MG-ZR ALLOYS, AS WELL AS AL-CE-MG REINFORCED WITH SIC OR AL2O3 NANOPARTICLES. THE ALLOY COMPOSITIONS WILL BE SELECTED THROUGH A HIGH THROUGHPUT SCREENING PROCEDURE. ALL MATERIALS WILL BE SUBJECTED TO THERMOMECHANICAL PROCESSING DESIGNED TO REFINE THE MICROSTRUCTURE AND TO PRODUCE A FINE DISPERSION OF INTERMETALLIC DISPERSOIDS, WHICH WILL ENSURE HIGH STRENGTH, HIGH FATIGUE RESISTANCE AND ENHANCED PROPERTY RETENTION UPON EXPOSURE TO ELEVATED TEMPERATURES. AN AMPLE PROGRAM OF TESTING UNDER MONOTONIC AND CYCLIC LOADING WILL BE UNDERTAKEN AND THE RESULTS WILL BE USED TO GUIDE FURTHER MATERIAL AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT. THE DATA WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP AND CALIBRATE MODELS DESCRIBING THE MATERIAL BEHAVIOR UNDER MONOTONIC AND FATIGUE LOADING, AND CRITICAL CONDITIONS FOR CRACK NUCLEATION. THE MODELS WILL BE REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE ENSEMBLE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL DATA OBTAINED AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR USE IN AIRCRAFT COMPONENT DESIGN. SUPERSONIC FLIGHT CAUSES SIGNIFICANT TEMPERATURE INCREASE OF THE AIRFRAME DUE TO AERODYNAMIC FRICTION. ALUMINUM ALLOYS CURRENTLY USED IN SUBSONIC AIRCRAFT DESIGN CANNOT WITHSTAND SUCH ELEVATED TEMPERATURES AND THEREFORE, OTHER, HEAVIER MATERIALS ARE CURRENTLY SELECTED FOR SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT. THE PROPOSED ALLOYS WILL MAKE POSSIBLE USING LIGHT ALUMINUM FOR SOME COMPONENTS OF THE AIRFRAME, WHICH WILL LEAD TO WEIGHT REDUCTION, ASSOCIATED FUEL SAVINGS AND REDUCTION OF CO2 EMISSIONS. THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY IS ESTIMATED TO REDUCE THE WEIGHT OF THE AIRFRAME BY 2%, WHICH TRANSLATES IN A REDUCTION OF 575,000 GALLONS OF JET FUEL, OR 5,100 METRIC TONS OF CO2 EMISSIONS OVER THE LIFETIME OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE PROGRAM PROPOSED WILL ADVANCE THE TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL FROM 2 TO 4.