Keeping Airplanes Flying Longer

It takes a lot less energy to maintain an airplane than to build a new one. To keep that airplane flying, however, it must be corrosion free. When maintenance crew members detect corrosion on an airplane's aluminum skin, they coat it immediately with one of several corrosion-prevention compounds (CPCs). The catch is that no one really knows definitively how long this temporary fix lasts.

David Ojumu (Aero '08) is helping Materials Science and Engineering Professor Robert Kelly test the effectiveness of different CPCs on aerospace-grade aluminum samples collected from military bases around the country. He analyzes them in a number of ways and compares his data against a protocol for CPCs developed by former graduate student Feng Gui (MSE '06). He also determines if there is a relationship between the recurrence of a specific kind of corrosion and the sample's failure signature.

Ojumu has been working in Kelly's laboratory since the summer after his first year. “That first summer was a huge learning experience because chemistry is not my strong point,” Ojumu recalls. “I got a great deal of help from the people I worked with, and now I've spent more time in the laboratory than many graduate students.”

In fact, one of the perks of Ojumu's work is his access to Kelly. “Professor Kelly is highly regarded in the field,” he says. “It's mind-blowing to be able to sit down in his office and hear him talk about corrosion.”