Cold section:

• Air intake (inlet)

• Compressor
• Bypass ducts
• Shaft
• Diffuser section

Hot section:
• Combustion chamber
• Turbine
• Afterburner
• Exhaust or nozzle
In general, hot section life is known to be critically
dependent upon the following factors :
•Maintaining temperatures within specified
ranges
•Maintaining uniform spatial distribution of
temperature at the turbine inlet
•Minimizing incidents of over speeding of rotating
components
•Avoiding/managing corrosive fuel/air mixtures
•Hot start intensity and frequency
Due to elevated temperatures and operational
stresses, the design life of a hot section
component is only about half as long as that of
a cold section component. As engines are
being operated at higher temperatures and
stresses, and with the use of new materials,
some following failure mechanisms are seen:
•Low Cycle Fatigue
•High Cycle Fatigue
•Creep/Rupture
•Oxidation
•High Corrosion
•Thermal shock
Material selection:
The hot parts of the engine require
materials which can operate at 1000°C, the
cooler parts at 600°C. Furthermore, the
environment is very harsh chemically and
mechanically, with very large forces
generated by the high rotational speeds
and even the possibility of birds being
sucked into the engine!
The maximum service temperature chart is a useful way of identifying new
possibilities for materials development.

Fig. Strength of materials with temperature increase

Material selection criteria:
For Cold Section:
•High strength (static, fatigue)
•High stiffness
•Low weight
For Hot Section:
•High Strength(static, fatigue, creep-
rupture)
•High temperature resistance
850 °C - 1100 °C (1600 °F - 2000 °F)
•Corrosion/oxidation resistance
•Low Weight
Materials used in different parts of jet engine
Compressor:
Titanium alloy: 33% of the aero engine weight
Advantages:
•High strength & stiffness to weight ratios > 150 ksi, E = 18 Msi
•Specific gravity of 4.5 ( 58 % that of steel)
•Titanium alloys can be used up to temperatures of ~ 590 °C (1100 °F)
•Good oxidation/corrosion resistance
Aluminum alloy:
Advantages:
•Conventional alloys have lower strength/weight ratios than Ti but more
advanced alloys approach that of Ti.
•Specific gravity: 2.8 ( 62 % that of Ti)
•Lower cost than Ti
•Max temp for advanced alloys:
• ~ 350 °C (600 °F)
•Lower weight & rotating part inertia
Compressor blade:
12% Chromium containing stainless steel grades 403 or 405
Advantages:
•increased tensile strength
• high cycle fatigue strength
•high corrosion fatigue strength
Combustor:
Nickel based super alloys, Cobalt based super alloys
Advantages:
•High temperature creep rupture strength
•High oxidation / corrosion resistance
•High strength /stiffness
•Specific gravity ~8.8 (relatively heavy)
Turbine disk:
Iron-base super alloy (ingot metallurgy route), Nickel-iron-base
super alloy(powder metallurgy route)
Advantages:
•Improves homogeneity / minimizes segregation, particularly in
complex Ni-base alloy systems
•Allows closer control of microstructure and better property
uniformity within a part than what is possible in cast and ingot
metallurgy wrought products.
•Finer grain size can be realized.
•Alloy development flexibility due to elimination of macro-
segregation.
•Consolidated powder products are often super-plastic and amenable
to isothermal forging, reducing force requirements for forging.
•It is a near net shape process; hence significantly less raw material
input required and also reduced machining cost
Turbine blades and vanes:
Nickel based Cast superalloys
Advantages:
•Good high temperature strength
•no forgeability requirement
•intrinsically stronger due to the coarse grain size
of castings
•high temperature oxidation and corrosion
Coatings:
Having to perform under increasing firing
temperatures and excessive contamination in the
operating environment, it has become difficult to
design superalloys which have the necessary creep
strength on one side and the required resistance to
corrosion / oxidation on the other side. It has hence
become inescapable to bring coatings on to the
surface of the blades to provide the necessary
protection to the blades. There are three basic types
of coating Aluminide (diffusion) coatings, overlay
coatings, thermal barrier coatings (TBCs).
 Advanced materials under R&D for aero
engine
Development of even more corrosion resistant
materials has been intensely pursued over the last
few years. In particular, improvement of oxidation
resistance and thermal fatigue resistance has been a
focal theme for the R&D efforts in the recent years.
Development work is also on advanced TBCs to tailor
their structure in such a way that they withstand
thermal fatigue conditions better and give a longer
life.
Ceramics:
Advantages:
-withstand Higher Temperatures
-Lower Cost fuels
-Highly corrosive to Ni based superalloy
-Availability of Raw Materials
-Lighter Weight
-Good ductility

Disadvantages:
Brittleness and very poor toughness thus yet not used in
aero engines
• Comparison of properties between metals and
ceramics:
Property Metals Ceramics
Toughness (bird strikes)
Good Very Poor

Oxidation/corrosion
Fair Good
resistance
Good
Forming Fair (sintering)
(forging)
Joining Good Difficult

Creep resistance Fair Good

Intermetallic:
Titanium Aluminide (Ti3Al)-

Advantages:
 Extends the temperature range of Ti from 1100 °F to 1200-1300
°F
 Suffers from embrittlement due to exposure to atmosphere at
high temperature needs to be coated
 Better toughness, higher ductility, higher specific strength and
lower coefficient of thermal expansion
 Attractive and perfect for compressor casings

Disadvantages:
 Low damage tolerance thus cannot be considered for
compressor disks
Chromium based alloys:
Advantages:
• high melting point
• good oxidation resistance
• low density (20% less than most nickel-
based superalloys)
• high thermal conductivity (two to four
times higher than most superalloys)
Composites: Laboratory
investigations of materials
properties show that significant
reductions in aero-engine weight
and cost are possible by using
fiberglass reinforced composite
materials.
Polymer matrix composites
(Kevlar, Graphite):
• Very high strength-weight ratios
• Very high stiffness-weight ratio (graphite)
• Versatility of design and manufacture
• Specific gravity: ~1.6 (compared to 4.5 for
titanium & 2.8 for aluminum)
• Can only be used at low temperatures
< 300 °C (600 °F)
Titanium based metal matrix
composites:
• Weight reduction
• low cost of production
• achieving improved performance levels
• amenability to mass production
• Improved specific strength
• Improved fatigue life (crack bridging)
• Suitable for compressors disks and
• secondary turbine stages
Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs)
(SiC):
• Greater thermal efficiency
• Reduced emission of harmful exhaust gases
• High thermal conductivity
• Has the potential for the highest
temperature capability > 2000 °C (~4000 °F)
• Excellent thermal shock resistance,
• Creep resistance and oxidation resistance
 Thank You !
Any Questions? 