Image to right: New temperature-resistant materials such as ceramic matrix composites enable more efficient and cleaner burning aircraft turbine engines.

Aircraft gas turbine engines need to be cooled. In an effort to improve performance by lowering engines' need for cooling, a team of researchers at NASA Glenn's Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology Project developed a new Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) as an alternative to traditional metallic engine material.

When used in engine turbine vanes and liners within the combustor, CMC demonstrated a 500˚F increase in thermal capability over current components. Even a 400ºF increase in thermal capability of a gas turbine hot section is proven to reduce CO and CO2 emissions by billions of pounds for a commercial fleet of 300 aircraft.

Coated CMC components now appear in engine development plans and programs at all gas turbine engine manufacturers, and are recognized industry-wide as the solution for emission reduction and efficiency improvements.

Coated Ceramic Matrix Composite Components Team
NASA Glenn Research Center; U.S. Army Research Lab; Department of Energy; GE Aircraft Engines, Pratt & Whitney, United Technologies Research Lab, Solar Turbines, Inc.; GE Power Systems Composites; COI Ceramics, Inc.; Goodrich Corporation; Ohio Aerospace Institute; the University of Toledo; Cleveland State University; QSS Group, Inc.