Novel Gas Turbine Engine Oil Additives for Advanced Steel Bearings

To meet the requirements for improved performance and longer life of future gas turbine engines, the engine companies have investigated the possibility of using advanced, high-temperature, high-fracture toughness, corrosion-resistant, wear resistant andfatigue resistant steels in gas turbine engine mechanical systems (bearings, gears, etc.). The advanced steels such as Pyrowear 675, CSS-42L, Cronidur 30, Cru-20, etc., are candidates for the mechanical systems of future gas turbine engines. However, intribological performance tests conducted to date with the gas turbine engine oils (GTOs) formulated with existing antiwear additives, the advanced steels have exhibited significantly shorter life than anticipated. UES, Inc. proposes to develop novelantiwear additive technology and the tribo-configurations to enhance the tribological performance of the advanced steel materials. A systematic test methodology will be used to evaluate and validate the proposed antiwear additives andtribo-configurations. Based upon their performance ranking, the antiwear additives and tribo-configurations will be identified for further development in Phase II. Successful completion of the project will provide demonstrated knowledge about the antiwearadditives and tribo-configurations required for enhancing the tribological performance of advanced mechanical systems. Besides application in military and commercial aircraft gas turbine engines, the novel additive technology and tribo-configurations couldalso be used in the mechanical systems of municipality power generation turbines.