Available online
Description
The programme looks at results, to date, of a U.S. Army research project to develop turbine blades made of ceramic materials.
The programme looks at results, to date, of a U.S. Army research project to develop turbine blades made of ceramic materials.
| Module code and title: | T351, Materials under stress |
|---|---|
| Item code: | T351; 15 |
| First transmission date: | 09-10-1976 |
| Published: | 1976 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:30 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | David Nelson |
| Contributors: | Alvin P. Gorum; Roger R Jones; Art McLean; Ed Lenoe; Bob Katz |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Advanced Projects Research Agency; Army Materials and Mechanics Research Centre (AMMRC); Benign failure; Ceramic specimens; Land-based vehicular turbine; Silicon nitride |
| Footage description: | Alvin Gorum (Director, U.S. Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center) introduces the programme with a brief review of the background to research into using ceramics in turbo jet engines. Ron Jones also introduces the programme. Much of the rest of the programme consists of shots of a Defence Department sponsored Ford-Westinghouse project team meeting in progress. The meeting begins by reviewing the processes which are available for testing a ceramic turbine rotor blade ring (cold spin, hot spin and engine simulation). Film shots of a spin test in progress during which a turbine wheel is tested to destruction. Commentary by Ron Jones. Art McLean, addressing the meeting, explains how the predictive power of bend test data using Weibull statistics correlates with actual failure of the turbine wheel. He writes on a blackboard to illustrate his points. Explanation by Ron Jones, of silicon nitride hot pressing, the process used to produce the turbine stator blade. He points out the various components of the machinery as he talks. Film shots of hot pressing in progress. Jones goes on to explain why changing the size or shape of a component produced by this method could result in a material with different properties. Bob Katz and Ed Lenoe, addressing the meeting, explain how product volume affects the Weibull statistics. Bob Katz goes on to discuss the effect of product geometry on the Weibull statistics. Ron Jones sums up the points covered so far and then goes on to discuss the problem of obtaining data for predicting up to 10,000 hours of turbine life. Shots of a demonstration of a test which could be used, among others, to provide data for extrapolation of turbine life. Jones goes on to explain that a crack in a ceramic component may not necessarily be a failure as would be suggested by Weibull analysis. The meeting discusses the type of crack (benign failure) which can be tolerated in a ceramic turbine nose cone. Jones and members of the meeting discuss the reasons for using Weibull analysis when it cannot account for phenomena such as benign failure. Jones and Alvin Gorum sum up. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/72065 |
| Production number: | 00525_5266 |
| Videofinder number: | 1426 |
| Available to public: | no |
