Under pressure: A worker loads a container holding ceramic matrix composite (CMC) components inside a high-pressure autoclave for curing
Tough enough to take the heat, this new ceramic material will make airplanes more energy-efficient
Ceramic is harder and lighter than steel, resists corrosion better and handles more heat. But if you drop a ceramic mug, it shatters. How can you make a jet engine out of it?
After 20 years of research and development, scientists at GE Global Research (GRC) are finding out. They have teamed up with designers at GE Aviation to develop a new kind of ceramic that outperforms the most advanced metallic alloys.
The material, called ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), combines silicon with ceramic-coated silicon carbide fibres. It's tough enough to take the heat and forces inside a roaring jet engine, yet light enough to shave hundreds of pounds off a jet engine.
"If you take a pound off something that's spinning, you get a whole cascade effect," materials scientist Jim Vartuli, one of the lead researchers on the project, says. "That pound works out to be usually about three additional pounds you can take off from the support structure and bearings because of a smaller centrifugal force."
Almost one million hours of testing was done on the new material, including more than 15,000 hours in land-based gas turbines that generate electricity. "This material is ready for flight," Mr. Vartuli says.
Components made from CMCs are already being used on LEAP engines developed by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and Snecma of France, as well as in advanced gas turbines.
Developing new materials such as CMCs is one key to making advanced manufacturing a force for sustainable economic growth.
"We are pushing ahead in materials technology, which gives us the ability to make jet engines lighter, run them hotter, and cool them less," says Michael Kauffman, a GE Aviation manufacturing executive. "As result, we can make the engines, and the planes they'll power, more efficient and cheaper to operate."
For more innovation insights, visit www.gereports.ca
This content was produced by The Globe and Mail's advertising department, in consultation with GE. The Globe's editorial department was not involved in its creation.