Nickel alloys a nd the creep feed grinding process will be important in delivering compressor blades with the performance required for the hotter operating temperatures of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine, which is due to enter service in 2008.
The UK engine manufacturer has found that nickel alloys have the heat capacity characteristics to operate under the new engine's more demanding conditions. The key to good engine performance is blades with a high-quality surface finish and accurate leading-edge profiles, which can be challenging geometries to machine.
R-R will use its "Viper" creep feed grinding process, developed for an earlier engine, to achieve the profiles and surface finish required.
"The Viper process will use carbon-boron-nitride wheels, which we have developed with our supplier Tyrolit. The process has flood coolant delivery with huge pressures," says Paul McFarlane, general manager of R-R's blade factory in Inchinnan, Scotland.
ROB COPPINGER/GLASGOW
Source: Flight International
