Ceramic Materials and Component Design for Aerospace Applications

Abstract

Focussing on a considerable reduction in cooling air requirements for HPT nozzles of jet engines, a new guide vane concept utilizing the high service temperature capability (~ 1,900 K) of sintered silicon carbide is proposed. In this concept, the load bearing structure of the vane is formed by the metallic shrouds and the metallic core. The uncooled vane shell consists of SSiC, which floats in recesses in the shrouds, surrounds the vane core and protects the major metallic parts from direct contact with the hot gas. Under the feasibility study an HPT rotor blade also of metal ceramic construction consisting of a metallic (Inconel 100) core with a fir-tree root and a ceramic (SSiC) shell was designed.

It would be desirable to replace the brittle SSic material with more damage tolerant ceramic matrix composites. These materials have been developed and tested at high temparatures in an oxidizing atmosphere by research centres and industrial laboratories. An outlook on the potential of CMCs for aerospace apllication in terms of improved damage tolerance will be presented.