DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF GE's CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES (CMCs) FOR AIRCRAFT ENGINES

摘要

Ceramists have been dreaming of using ceramics for applications in hot stages of gas turbines for over 40 years. Ceramics are attractive because of their light weight and higher melting temperatures. At GE, earlier efforts focused on monolithic ceramics, specifically SiC, Si_3N_4, and SiC-Si ceramics. While great progress was made in developing these materials, they were not useful for gas turbine applications because of their low resistance to foreign object damage. In mid-eighties, GE started efforts on ceramic composites. Activities included particle-reinforced composites, carbon-carbon composites, oxide-oxide composites, and SiC-SiC composites. Since about early nineties, most of the CMC development has been focused on SiC fiber reinforced SiC-Si matrix composites made by silicon melt infiltration (MI CMCs).