High Temperature Braided Composite Preforming for Advanced Turbine Engine Components

Foster-Miller and Pratt & Whitney will team in an effort to develop SiC/SiC stator vanes for the IHPTET Low Pressure Turbine. Pratt & Whitney has determined that a 2.6% thrust-to-weight improvement is anticipated with these CMC vanes. SiC/SiC vanes have been difficult to fabricate. Limitations in current braiding and textile technologies have reduced the potential effectiveness of this material system. Foster-Miller has developed improved braiding carriers that enable braiding of brittle fibers, such as SiC. We have also developed braiding technologies that permit continuous fiber integration of stator vanes and platforms, without limitations in vane bow and twist. These features will enable practical development of advanced SiC/SiC actively cooled stator vanes for IHPTET. The Phase I program will verify the effectiveness of Foster-Miller braiding technology. SiC braid will be produced and tested to verify the quality of FMI braid with brittle fibers. A stator vane/platform assembly preform will be designed and fabricated that shows the flexibility of the integral fiber technology. The completed stator vane assembly will be structurally tested. This Phase I program will augment a proposed Pratt & Whitney MACTA II program.