Fiber reinforced airfoil

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10400612-B2
Application number	US-201615370824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2016
Priority date	Dec 18, 2015
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

An airfoil and a method of manufacturing an airfoil may be provided, where the airfoil comprises a core and a shell. The core comprises core ceramic fibers extending along a span of the airfoil. The shell surrounds the core and includes shell ceramic fibers. Substantially all of the core ceramic fibers are arranged in a radial direction. The airfoil may also be a ceramic matrix composite formed by infiltrating the core and the shell with a matrix material.

First claim

We claim:

1. An airfoil comprising a unitary ceramic matrix composite (CMC) body, the unitary CMC body comprising:
a core comprising a plurality of core ceramic fibers, wherein substantially all of the plurality of the core ceramic fibers are arranged in a radial direction; and
a shell surrounding the core, the shell comprising a plurality of shell ceramic fibers, wherein a first portion of the shell ceramic fibers are arranged in a first direction substantially aligned with a radial axis of the airfoil, and a second portion of the shell ceramic fibers are arranged to extend along a circumference of the airfoil.

2. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the radial direction extends along the airfoil from a base of the airfoil to a tip of the airfoil.

3. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the core ceramic fibers comprise a plurality of multi-fiber tows.

4. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the core ceramic fibers comprise monofilament.

5. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the core ceramic fibers comprise silicon carbide fibers.

6. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of core ceramic fibers have a higher creep resistance than the plurality of shell ceramic fibers.

7. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of core ceramic fibers comprise unidirectional ceramic tape.

8. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the shell ceramic fibers are woven or braided.

9. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the shell ceramic fibers consists of 2-4 plies of fibers.

10. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein a surface density of the second portion of the shell ceramic fibers is greater than a surface density of the first portion of the shell ceramic fibers.

11. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein the second portion of the shell ceramic fibers are angularly offset from a radial axis of the airfoil by between 15 degrees to 75 degrees.

12. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein a trailing end of the shell comprises a Y-cloth ply.

13. A vane or a blade for a gas turbine engine, the vane or the blade comprising a unitary ceramic matrix composite (CMC) body, the unitary CMC body comprising:
a core comprising a plurality of core ceramic fibers, wherein substantially all of the core ceramic fibers are arranged in a radial direction; and
a shell surrounding the core, the shell comprising a plurality of shell ceramic fibers, wherein a first portion of the shell ceramic fibers are arranged in a first direction substantially aligned with a radial axis of the airfoil, and a second portion of the shell ceramic fibers are arranged to extend along a circumference of the airfoil.

14. The vane or blade of claim 13 , wherein at least 75% of the core ceramic fibers are offset from a radial axis of the blade or vane by no more than 10 degrees.

15. The vane or blade of claim 13 , wherein at least 25% of the shell ceramic fibers extend circumferentially about the shell.

16. A method of manufacturing a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) airfoil comprising:
providing a porous ceramic preform core comprising a plurality of core ceramic fibers by arranging substantially all of the core ceramic fibers in a radial direction;
forming a porous ceramic preform shell to extend around the porous ceramic preform core, the porous ceramic preform shell comprising a plurality of shell ceramic fibers, wherein a first portion of the shell ceramic fibers are arranged in a first direction substantially aligned with a radial axis of the airfoil, and a second portion of the shell ceramic fibers are arranged to extend along a circumference of the airfoil; and
forming the porous ceramic preform core and the porous ceramic preform shell into the CMC airfoil.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the CMC airfoil comprises infiltrating a molten metal or alloy into the porous ceramic preform core and shell.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the porous ceramic preform shell comprises wrapping a layer of the shell ceramic fibers around the porous ceramic preform core such that a portion of the layer extends beyond where a trailing edge of CMC airfoil will be after the CMC airfoil is formed.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising inserting the core ceramic fibers into the porous ceramic preform shell.

20. The airfoil of claim 1 , wherein a ratio between a diameter of the core ceramic fibers and a diameter of the shell ceramic fibers is at least 2.5.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Corp

Inventors

• Freeman Ted
• Engel Todd
• Chamberlain Adam
• Sippel Aaron
• Landwehr Sean

Classifications

• F05D2300/6034

  Orientation of fibres, weaving, ply angle · CPC title

• F04D29/542

  Bladed diffusers (fixing blades to stators F01D9/042) · CPC title

• F04D29/324

  Blades · CPC title

• F04D29/023

  especially adapted for elastic fluid pumps · CPC title

• F01D5/284

  Selection of ceramic materials · CPC title