News

GE has successfully introduced ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) in the hot section of commercial jet engines. To date, CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines, has produced 3500+ LEAP engines with CMC shrouds designed and manufactured by GE Aviation. The GE9X engine developed by GE Aviation for the Boeing 777X will incorporate 5 CMC components.

To design mechanical components with CMCs for aircraft engine applications, it is critical to understand the relationship between microstructure and thermomechanical properties. This is typically achieved by extensive testing and characterization. Our multidisciplinary team of engineers and scientists at GE Research and GE Aviation is developing physics-based models to quantify the effects of global and local constituent and microstructure variations on the thermomechanical behavior of CMCs. Our models cover in-plane and out-of-plane thermal-elastic properties and strengths. Recent advances in microstructural characterization are leveraged to accurately describe and model representative microstructures. The modeling framework is tailored to each property of interest and validated using extensive experimental data on known microstructures.

Emmanuel Maillet

Technology Manager - Materials Processing & Behavior

GE Research

emmanuel.maillet@ge.com