Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • Subscribe!
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

New Material Could Revolutionize Jet Travel

By GE Reports | February 10, 2015

Share

In the century following the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, planes have gone through three materials revolutions: wood and fabric fuselages gave way to aluminum and, eventually, to light and strong carbon composites used to make the bodies of the latest planes like Boeing’s Dreamliner and the Airbus A350.

But a new and unusual material is now changing the industry again: ceramics.

These ceramics are not your typical cup of tea. If you want to fly non-stop from New York to Sydney, jet engines with parts made from so-called ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) could be your ticket not too far in the future.

The light, tough and heat resistant material will allow engineers to build lighter and more efficient engines that can take planes farther and burn less fuel.

Image credit: GE Aviation

Static components made from CMCs are already serving in the newest and most advanced civilian and military engines like the LEAP engine made by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and France’s Snecma (Safran). 

GE Engineers just scored an important breakthrough when they for the first time successfully tested rotating parts made from CMCs inside a jet engine turbine (see below).

“Going from nickel alloys to rotating ceramics inside the engine is the really big jump,” says Jonathan Blank, who leads CMC and advanced polymer matrix composite research at GE Aviation. “CMCs allow for a revolutionary change in jet engine design.”

A turbine rotor with blades made from CMCs after a test. The yellow blades are covered with an environmental barrier for experimental purposes. Since blades made from CMCs are so light, they allow engineers to reduce the size and weight of the metal disk to which they are attached (the shiny steel part in the center), and design lighter and more efficient jet engines. Image credit: GE Aviation.

The material has two hugely winning attributes for aviation: it’s one-third the weight of metal, and it’s also heat-resistant and doesn’t need to be air-cooled. 

The turbines of most modern jet engines work with surface high temperatures, which can make even advanced alloys grow soft. Engineers use lasers to drill tiny holes in the metal alloy turbine blades to bleed in cooling air and protect their surface from the heat. But the cooling air also reduces engine performance.

“More heat means more cooling air, which lowers overall efficiency,” Blank says. “When you drop the need for cooling components, your engine will become aerodynamically more efficient and also more fuel efficient.”

GE spent two decades developing CMCs. Scientists at GE Global Research tried to shoot  a steel ball flying at 150 mph through a sample, but failed. Image credit: GE Global Research

Since the rotating turbine blades made from CMCs are so light, they also allow engineers to reduce the size of the metal disks to which they are attached. “This is pure mechanics,” Blank says. “The lighter blades generate smaller centrifugal force, which means that you can also slim down the disk, bearings and other parts.”

When they tried the same with a non-CMC plate, they easily succeeded. Image credit: GE Global Research

GE just recently finished the world’s first successful test of rotating CMC blades inside an F414 military jet engine, which normally powers F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet jets. They were able to run the engine for 500 cycles. (One cycle takes the engine to takeoff thrust and back.)

The blades powered through punishing dynamic forces and high temperatures inside the engine’s low-pressure turbine, giving engineer another proof that the heat-resistant technology that can withstand unprecedented conditions.  

Blank says that thanks to CMCs, GE’s ADVENT adaptive cycle engine had already set the world record for the highest combined compressor and turbine temperatures. It was validated by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL).

The first application of the blades could be inside new jet engines for “sixth-generation” fighter jets (see below), like the ADVENT. “But we already envision future commercial applications,” Blank says.

A rendering of GE’s ADVENT engine. Image credit: GE Aviation

GE made the CMC blades for the test at its materials research facility in Newark, Del., but the company has already built a new plant in Asheville, N.C. for high rate production of components made from CMCs.

GE has spent $1 billion over the last two decades to develop the material. Says materials scientist Krishan Luthra who was involved in the project: “I thought it would be the Holy Grail if we could make it work.”


Filed Under: Aerospace + defense

 

Related Articles Read More >

Mars helicopter receives Collier Trophy
Flexible rotary shafts to power Delta Airlines’ engines powering their first Airbus A321neo aircraft
Ontic acquires Servotek and Westcon product lines from Marsh Bellofram
Flexible rotary shafts support thrust reverser on 150 LEAP 1-A turbofan engines

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Industrial disc pack couplings
  • Pushing performance: Adding functionality to terminal blocks
  • Get to Know Würth Industrial Division
  • Renishaw next-generation FORTiS™ enclosed linear encoders offer enhanced metrology and reliability for machine tools
  • WAGO’s smartDESIGNER Online Provides Seamless Progression for Projects
  • Epoxy Certified for UL 1203 Standard

Design World Podcasts

July 26, 2022
Tech Tuesdays: Sorbothane marks 40 years of shock and vibration innovation
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • Subscribe!
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings