Abrasive Tips for Ceramic Matrix Composite Blades
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Solution Overview
Problem
The integration of ceramic matrix composite components in gas turbine engines faces challenges due to bonding, joining, and manufacturing difficulties with traditional metallic components, particularly with abrasive tips, and thermal-mechanical stresses induced during operation.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the formation of a tip preform with continuous porosity, co-infiltration with an airfoil preform using techniques like slurry infiltration, melt infiltration, and chemical vapor infiltration to densify and join the tip and airfoil, ensuring compatibility and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional metallic components and coatings are used for turbine blades, then bonding and joining may be achieved, but thermal-mechanical stresses are induced during operation at high temperatures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies homogeneity by using the same ceramic matrix composite material for both the blade body and the tip coating, eliminating material interfaces that cause thermal-mechanical stress. The coating is formed from the same ceramic precursor material as the blade, ensuring uniform thermal expansion and mechanical properties throughout the component.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses ceramic matrix composite materials that combine ceramic particles or fibers with a matrix material to create a composite structure. This composite approach provides both the high-temperature strength needed for bonding and the thermal stability to reduce thermal-mechanical stresses during operation.
2Temperature
If ceramic matrix composite components are used to operate at higher temperatures, then high-temperature mechanical and chemical properties are improved, but bonding, joining, and manufacturing difficulties arise with traditional abrasive tips
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the manufacturing parameters by using low-pressure chemical vapor infiltration to deposit ceramic material at controlled temperatures and pressures. This allows the formation of bonded abrasive tips on ceramic matrix composite blades without requiring high-temperature sintering or complex joining processes that would be difficult to control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an intermediary coating layer formed by chemical vapor infiltration that bonds the abrasive particles to the ceramic matrix composite substrate. This intermediary layer facilitates the joining process by providing a compatible interface between the ceramic blade material and the abrasive tip material.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If abrasive tips are embedded with particles and bonded with nickel layers, then abrasive functionality is achieved, but compatibility with ceramic matrix composite blades is lost due to bonding and thermal-mechanical issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a nickel-free ceramic-based coating material that is homogeneous with the underlying ceramic matrix composite blade. This eliminates the material incompatibility between nickel and ceramic that causes thermal-mechanical stress and bonding failures, while still providing the necessary substrate for abrasive particle embedding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure where abrasive particles are embedded in a ceramic-based coating matrix that is itself bonded to the ceramic matrix composite blade. This composite approach ensures material compatibility throughout the structure while maintaining the abrasive wear capability needed for controlled material removal.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the creation of a monolithic ceramic matrix composite blade with improved high-temperature mechanical and chemical properties, addressing bonding and thermal-mechanical stress issues, and enhancing the operational efficiency of gas turbine engines.
Implementation Method 1
co-infiltrating, after the positioning the tip preform, the tip preform and the airfoil preform to densify the tip preform and the airfoil preform thereby joining the tip preform and the airfoil preform to form the blade
Implementation Method 2
co-co-infiltrating may comprise densifying the tip preform and the airfoil preform via slurry infiltration and melt infiltration
Implementation Method 3
Co-infiltrating may further comprise densifying the tip preform and the airfoil preform via chemical vapor infiltration or chemical vapor deposition prior to slurry infiltration and melt infiltration
Implementation Method 4
forming the tip preform may comprise encapsulating the tip particles and the substrate in a polymer. In some embodiments, co-infiltrating the substrate of the tip preform and the airfoil preform may include burning off the polymer
Data Source
AI summary
A blade and method for producing the blade for a gas turbine engine are described herein. The blade may include a composite airfoil. The airfoil may comprise a ceramic material, and a distal end. A tip may extend from the distal end of the airfoil. The tip of the airfoil may comprise a substantially porous structure and may comprise infiltrated material extending from an airfoil preform to a tip preform to join the airfoil preform and the tip preform.