Method for fabricating a ceramic matrix composite rotor blade

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016312626-A1
Application number	US-201615084380-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 29, 2016
Priority date	Apr 8, 2015
Publication date	Oct 27, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for making a turbine engine blade includes three-dimensionally weaving elongate fibers of a material selected from the group consisting of carbon, glass, silica, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, aluminum, aramid, aromatic polyamide, and combinations thereof to create a woven preform including a single piece of woven material. The woven preform includes continuous warp fibers extending along a first direction, continuous weft fibers extending along a second direction substantially normal to the first direction, and continuous fibers extending in a third direction substantially normal to the first and the second directions. The woven preform includes an airfoil region extending along the first direction and an arrangement of flaps extending along the second direction. The flaps are folded into a plane substantially normal to a plane of the airfoil region to form a shaped woven preform. The shaped woven preform is densified with a ceramic matrix.

First claim

1 . A method for making a turbine engine blade, comprising:
three-dimensionally weaving elongate fibers of a material selected from the group consisting of carbon, glass, silica, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, aluminum, aramid, aromatic polyamide, and combinations thereof to create a woven preform comprising a single piece of woven material, wherein the woven preform comprises continuous warp fibers extending along a first direction, continuous weft fibers extending along a second direction substantially normal to the first direction, and continuous fibers extending in a third direction substantially normal to the first and the second directions; and wherein the woven preform comprises an airfoil region extending along the first direction and an arrangement of flaps adjacent to the airfoil region; folding the flaps into a plane substantially normal to a plane of the airfoil region to form a shaped woven preform; and densifying the shaped woven preform with a ceramic matrix to obtain a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) turbine engine blade.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the woven preform comprises a first set of flaps at a first end of the airfoil region and a second set of flaps at a second end of the airfoil region opposite the first end.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the first and the second set of flaps comprise more than one woven layer.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching the shaped woven preform to metal tooling prior to the densifying step.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the densifying step comprises infiltrating the shaped woven preform with an infiltrant selected from the group consisting of Si, C, B, Al, Y, Ti, Zi, oxides thereof, and mixtures and combinations thereof.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the elongate fibers are selected from the group consisting of silica, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and combinations thereof.

7 . A method for making a turbine engine blade, comprising:
three-dimensionally weaving elongate ceramic fibers to create a unitary woven preform comprising continuous warp fibers extending along a first direction, continuous weft fibers extending along a second direction substantially normal to the first direction, and continuous fibers extending in a third direction substantially normal to the first and the second direction; and wherein the woven preform comprises an airfoil region extending along the first direction, a first pair of flaps at a first end of the airfoil region, and a second pair of flaps at a second end of the airfoil region opposite the first end thereof; folding the first pair of flaps into a plane substantially normal to a plane of the airfoil region to form an inner platform region on the first end of the airfoil region; folding the second pair of flaps into a plane substantially normal to the plane of the airfoil region to form an outer platform region on the second end of the airfoil region; attaching the woven preform to metal tooling; and densifying the woven preform with a ceramic matrix to obtain a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) turbine engine blade.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the woven preform further comprises a root region at the first end of the airfoil region.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the root region further comprises a tang region between the root region and the inner platform region.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the first and the second pairs of flaps comprise more than one layer.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first pair of flaps comprises at least two layers.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the densifying step comprises infiltrating the woven preform with an infiltrant selected from the group consisting of Si, C, B, Al, Y. Ti, Zi, oxides thereof, and mixtures and combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Corp

Inventors

• Schetzel Tara Grant

Classifications

• B29B11/16

  comprising fillers or reinforcement {(non-woven fabrics per se D04H1/00, D04H3/00)} · CPC title

• C04B35/82

  Asbestos; Glass; Fused silica · CPC title

• C04B35/76

  Fibres, filaments, whiskers, platelets, or the like · CPC title

• C04B2235/616

  Liquid infiltration of green bodies or pre-forms · CPC title

• C04B35/58092

  based on refractory metal silicides · CPC title