Rework method delivers engine sets for civil aerospace

A new manufacturing rework process has been developed to remove defective ceramic coatings from gas turbine components that would otherwise be scrapped.

Key Facts

A high-velocity water jet is used to remove the ceramic without damaging an underlying bond coat and component.
The recovered component, once stripped of ceramic, can be recoated with a new thermal barrier coating and returned to service.
The reclamation method has aided Rolls-Royce plc to demonstrate its 鈥榤aterial sustainably and carbon reduction obligations鈥� through reworking, reducing waste.

Impact of our research

The reclamation method was adopted in industry, allowing Rolls-Royce to progressively deliver over 120 sets of engines to airline customers by the end of 2024, at Turbine unit cost of over 拢8.1m. From December 2024, delivery of 338 set of engines, with benefits of 拢21.5m are expected to be delivered over the next five years. Without this new reclamation method, these engine sets would have been scrapped.

Resulting in five patent applications, the rework method has been implemented and industrialised.

Why the research was commissioned

The requirement was to develop an engineering solution to address materials waste reduction and enable cost savings. Mehrzad (Merz) Delfan-Azari, a Programme Manager at Rolls-Royce Turbine Systems undertook this research for his Doctorate. His senior position enabled the research to progress aligned with business need with practical trials as the technology developed.

Why 星空体育官网?

星空体育官网 has a long history of collaboration with the surface engineering team at Rolls-Royce. This industry-academic partnership enabled the creation of the three-layer thermal barrier coating for gas turbine blades on aero-engines. Now flying on Trent 1000 engines of Boeing 787s, the coating makes the aero engines more efficient, with significant savings in fuel and reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The 星空体育官网 team was led by Professor John Nicholls, using their significant expertise of coating development, understanding its behaviour in extreme conditions of flight and degradation due to erosion from particles.