Low Cost High Performance 3-D CMCs for Jet Engine Components

In this Navy Phase I SBIR program, MATECH/GSM proposes to model and fabricate low-cost, high performance three-dimensionally woven fiber reinforced CMCs for jet engine applications. We will attempt to design a weave that mimics 8HSW within the in-plane and also contains warp stuffer yarns, thereby producing a Layer-to-Layer Angle Interlock Weave (LTLAIW). For this program, we propose to use both commercially available CG-Nicalon and our own SiNC structural ceramic fiber, currently under development with Navair support. SiNC matrix densification will be performed using the polymer-infiltration-pyrolysis (PIP) process, already optimized under a program supported by the National Science Foundation. The rational for ultimately replacing CG-Nicalon with MATECH SiNC ceramic fiber is higher thermo-mechanical properties combined with desirable electro-magnetic behavior required for this application. Additionally, having a fiber and matrix that are compositionally identical would eliminate any CTE mismatch, and thus help mitigate matrix cracking upon thermo-cycling.