With increasing speeds of aircraft, problems arise over materials of construction, partly through kinetic heating effects which cause temperature rises and partly through rain erosion effects. Additionally, account has to be taken of a required life of 30,000 hours which is much longer than that over which most materials are normally evaluated.

For speeds of Mach 2.2, the maximum temperature attained will be of the order of 130°C, while for Mach 2.7 the corresponding temperature will be 200°C or higher. For the lower speed, it is probable that aluminium alloys will be satisfactory, although it must be emphasised that no information is yet available on the long-term behaviour of materials at the elevated temperatures likely to be experienced. Test programmes are in hand, but these will necessarily take considerable time for their completion. For speeds of Mach 2.7 or above, steel or titanium alloys will be required, but here again the necessary evaluation for long periods at high temperature has yet to be completed.