Systems Considerations for Aerospace Beryllium Applications

Beryllium offers many advantages in aerospace applications. However, its brittleness, notch sensitivity, high cost, and difficulty in fabricating have limited its use to date. This paper discusses these problems in detail, along with applications in which these disadvantages can be overcome. The peculiar properties of beryllium can be utilized to advantage if the system is weight critical, thermal expansion sensitive, or subject to high loadings at high temperature. Other areas are when the structure is deflection critical or the packaging volume for erectables is limited. In these areas, the metal can be utilized successfully if the loads are well defined, the design avoids brittle fracture, no impact loads are encountered, and redundant structure design is possible.