Characterization of titanium grade 5 alloy compressor blade in a jet engine using advanced materials for optimum thrust production

Abstract

Abstract Machining operations on titanium and its alloys have always been a challenge in the design of compressor blade in the jet engine which undergo profound stress during impact of debris and affects the life span of both static and rotary blades. Titanium grade 5 alloy is used to resist the creep and fatigue due to the thermal expansion and sudden impact including bird strike. However, machining them is difficult. An attempt was made to mitigate the temperature during drilling of Ti-6Al-4V by adopting cryogenic coolants LN2, CO2 and a novel approach of coconut oil under varying cutting speed and feed rates. LN2 provided 17 and 55% reduction in temperature over CO2 and coconut oil condition respectively. Employing the optimum machining procedure for Titanium alloy can reduce the weight of the aircraft by mounting the titanium alloy at the leading edge of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic composite blades.