Development of Multifunctional Damping Coating Systems for Turbine Engine Components

This SBIR Phase I program will bring together both thermal spray and PVD coating technologies to create a multilayer damping coating system capable of enhancing the reliability of components in the harsh environment of advanced turbine engines. The proposed research effort will utilize a novel thermal spray coating method for producing high damping coatings. A dense, fine grain structure is obtained by the plasma spray process. With the incorporation of viscoelastic polymer infiltrates and/or vitreous enamel additives, the coating structure has been shown to effectively improve the damping properties of the optimized coating systems over a wide range of operating temperatures. The development of a dense superalloy bond coat using vaccum plasma spray and a thin surface coating using physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods will significantly improve the corrosion, oxidation, and erosion resistance of the damping coating system. The concept of the multilayer coating damping system will provide a mulitfunctional coating that will increase the durability of airfoils in advanced turbine engines. BENEFIT: The technology developed will be applicable to both military and commercial aircraft and land based turbine engines. Potential applications in the commercial area include both land based and aircraft turbine engine rotors and stators, and other rotating laboratory, diagnostics, and other industrial equipment.