CANNON-MUSKEGON is investing almost $5 million to expand its capability to develop and produce superalloys. Its CMSX single-crystal alloys are used in Allison and Rolls-Royce aero-engines.
The Muskegon, Michigan-based company says that a new vacuum induction furnace will increase vacuum-melt capabilities, while a new $1.5 million finishing line will improve quality and efficiency. Cannon, meanwhile, has acquired Lake Erie Design, a manufacturer of ceramic cores for high-precision castings used in turbine engines.
Cannon's CMSX-3 and -4 single-crystal superalloys are used for high-pressure turbine blades and vanes in Allison engines, including the AE3007 turbofan. The rhenium-containing CMSX-4 allows a higher ambient-temperature flat rating in the AE3007A1 powering new hot-and-high and long-range versions of the Embraer EMB-145 regional jet, the company says.
Rolls-Royce has used the CMSX-4 alloy in its latest RB.211-524G/H-T turbofan for the Boeing 747-400. The -524G/H-T is a hybrid engine combining the high-pressure core of the Trent 700 with the low-pressure system of the current -524G/H. The new alloy allows the engine to operate at higher temperatures with improved durability, says Cannon.
New lightweight alloys are being developed which could see a step-change in jet-engine performance, says Austrian materials- supplier Plansee.
Gamma-TiAl alloys are formed from "super plastics" and are 15% lighter than titanium alloys. They can be operated at twice the temperature. Once they are certificated for aerospace applications, engine designs with up to a 50% increase in thrust-to-weight ratio could emerge, says the company. The materials also weigh around half as much as the nickel-based alloys now used in high-temperature applications such as turbine blades, and have demonstrated "excellent oxidation and creep resistance", says Plansee.
In the interim, engine designers are incorporating the latest oxide-dispersed strengthened alloys into jet and rocket engines, says the company. These alloys can be operated at temperatures of up to 1,350íC, which with blade-cooling could increase operating temperatures well beyond current limits.
Source: Flight International
