The role of advanced materials in aircraft engines

Aircraft gas turbine engines have been in use for over 50 years. Materials science has played an important role in increasing engine performance. Next generation engines need to be even more environmentally friendly and effective as propulsion systems than the current products. An important contribution to these improvements can be obtained by introducing new materials providing higher temperature capability and lower weight. Ceramic matrix composites and thermal barrier coatings are candidate material systems for meeting these requirements. Lower relative weight can be achieved by new design solutions, such as blades integrated with the disk (blisk). Existing materials may be used more effectively by employing computer modelling techniques to understand the material behaviour better. Both existing and new materials will be tailored to specific applications. They must at the same time show an overall business benefit, if they are to achieve wide application in future production engines.