Beryllium-aluminium alloy
Beryllium-aluminum alloy an alloy that consists of 62% beryllium and 38% aluminum, by weight, corresponding approximately to an empirical formula of Al2Be. It was first developed in the 1960s by the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, who called it Lockalloy, and used as a structural metal in the aerospace industry because of its high specific strength and stiffness. The material was used in the Lockheed YF12 and LGM-30 Minuteman missile systems. In the 1970s production difficulties limited the material to a few specialized uses and by the mid 1970s Lockalloy was no longer commercially available.
In 1990, Materion Beryllium & Composites re-introduced the material into the commercial marketplace as a powder-sintered composite under the trade name of AlBeMet. AlBeMet is the trade name for a beryllium and aluminium metal matrix composite material derived by a powder metallurgy process. AlBeMet AM162 is manufactured by Materion Corporation Brush Beryllium and Composites (formerly known as Brush Wellman).
AlBeMet is formed by hot consolidating gas atomized prealloyed powder. Each powder particle contains aluminium between beryllium dendrites producing a uniform microstructure. Aluminium-beryllium metal matrix composite combines the high modulus and low density characteristics of beryllium with the fabrication and mechanical property behaviors of aluminium.
Due to weight advantage, Be-Al alloys are used in aerospace and satellite applications.