The extraordinary potential of high temperaturecomposite materials to meet the engineering design challengespresented by advanced turbine engines is well known.Implementation has been seriously impeded by high cost andfabrication difficulties. Recently, continuous microcompositemonofilaments were produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD)methods to provide an improved alternative to drumwoundfoil/fiber or plasma-sprayed monotapes. Such metal matrixcomposite (MMC) precursors are highly uniform and reproducible.Moreover, the local fiber volume fraction is precisely thatdesired in the consolidated macrocomposite structure, making theprecursor ideal for a precision fiber placement and consolidationscheme. In the planned work, a unit consolidation process will bemodeled and developed using laser energy to effect consolidationof continuous silicon carbide/titanium PVD MMC precursor wires.The feasibility of the approach will be demonstrated in Phase Iby fabricating a subscale compressor ring for turbine engineapplications. Phase II will explore the dimensions of theprocessing window, relying on parametric studies to model theconsolidation response surface and produce a high-quality,full-scale demonstration ring.Anticipated Results / Potential Commercial Applications as described by the awardee: Next generation commercial aircraftturbine engine components will benefit greatly from possibleweight savings of more than 50%, compared to currently usedsuperalloys. However, truly staggering economies will come frompower plants using large land turbines, for which five percentmore efficiency can result from a 100øF increase in operatingtemperature.
