Damage Tolerant Composite Sandwich Structures for Turbine749834 Engine Components

A new capability for building lightweight, damage-tolerant, high-temperature and affordable composite sandwich structures for turbine engine components will be developed. Current applications of composites materials in turbine engine components are limitedto solid laminate construction. The structural efficiency of sandwich construction have not been realized due to poor damage tolerance of conventional honeycomb or foam cored sandwich structures. The new sandwich composites proposed here will be producedwith a new and innovative TYCORr composite core material and braided fabric facings. The components will be molded using resin infusion process as well as traditional prepreg and autoclave/oven curing process. The integrated composite sandwich panel isexpected to be affordable and offers improved damage tolerance compared to traditional composites. This capability offers a fresh approach to the serious limitation in sandwich structural design and thus promises to be a pervasive new structuraltechnology for air and space vehicles as well as other applications.The work plan involves design, fabrication and testing of inlet guide vanes (IGV) and fan case for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) engine, both with integral upright flanges using BMI resin, suitable for high-temperature application. Following successfuldevelopment and testing, several representative articles for the inlet guide vane and fan case will be produced for demonstration and further development. The team includes WebCore Technologies, GE Aircraft Engines and the University of Dayton ResearchInstitute.