ABSTRACT
Turbine blades are critical components in aerospace turbomachines since the safety and performance of the engine depend strongly on such parts. Turbine inlet temperatures have increased very significantly over the past 30 years and will approach 16508C at maximum power for the large commercial turbofan engines over the next few years. The turbine inlet temperature attained in the M88 engine of the Rafale fighter plane is already of the order of 15808C. This level of performance has been achieved by a combination of advances in air cooling design technology for stresses and airflow, and single crystal technology. During the past 15 years, ONERA has played a leading role in Europe in the development and study of new cost effective single crystal superalloys tailored for the specific needs of the engine makers. Among the various materials developed within France, alloys such as AM1 (M88 engine), AM3 (ARRIEL and ARRIUS helicopter engines) and MC-2 for advanced single crystal blades are worth mentioning. The MC-2 alloy developed by ONERA, which is one of the strongest low cost currently available single crystal superalloys without rhenium, is being engine tested by Turbomeca and by Pratt and Whitney for advanced engine applications.
