Project description
Titanium aluminide materials for turbine blades under test
Titanium aluminide (TiAl) has the potential to replace nickel-based superalloys in aircraft turbines owing to its low weight, and good mechanical and oxidation properties. The EU-funded PANTHER project will investigate the resistance of TiAl turbine blades under high strain rates, high temperatures and different stress triaxiality levels. A combined approach of numerical simulations and experiments will help create a reliable transient dynamics model for predicting the material behaviour and failure. The methodology proposed could also be used to characterise the dynamics of other materials in high-temperature settings as for example in car engines.
Objective
The work presented in this proposal will help the topic leader to evaluate the ability of an innovating TiAl material to replace nickel-based super-alloys for low-pressure turbine application. The PANTHER project will focus on the investigation of the resistance of TiAl alloy under high strain rate, high temperature and different stress triaxiality levels. A combined approach between numerical simulations and original experiments will help creating a reliable transient dynamics material model for behaviour and failure. An upstream methodology will be applied, aiming at testing the material from a microscopic scale to a structure scale. The work will begin by numerical simulation of a blade-off in order to evaluate the important parameters to take into consideration in the model. The results of this preliminary study will drive the experimental conditions for the material testing on Split Hopkinson Bar apparatus. A first couple of parameters will be fitted thanks to this first test campaign. The study will go on with simplified impact testing (two impact configuration) with highly instrumented targets. These tests will reveal the behaviour and failure mode of the TiAl under dynamic conditions. Numerical simulations of these experiments will be performed and material model parameters will be adjusted to correlate simulation results to experimental ones. The goal of the last testing campaign (three impact configurations) is to reproduce the real events that can occur during the life operation of an engine turbine. A last batch of numerical simulation will allow to confirm the ability of the established material model to accurately predict such complex events. The call is in THIOT’s core business and strategy. With the PANTHER project, THIOT is submitting an innovating proposal that will maintain the European industry at the cutting edge of the turbine design.
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RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
46130 Puybrun
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.