Airbus A380 Mid-air Engine Failure

Mize said:
Uh, turbine blades? No. Fan blades? Yes. The outer fan blades on the GE90 are indeed carbon-fiber reinforced polymer composite. These materials are not used for turbine blades as the temperatures are far too high. Nickel alloys are the dominant material for turbine blades though there are some military engines in development using ceramic-matrix composite blades. The only polymer-based composite that would hold up to turbine temperatures is carbon-carbon but I've only ever seen it used in braking systems as it tends to burn under the right (wrong) circumstances.
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RR also uses single crystal titanium blades for the high pressure (hot) turbine blades.

Cheers
 
I mention single crystal blades earlier though I'm not a fan (lol) of titanium for this application. Turbine blades get nicked and scratched by light debris and the possibility of embrittlement of Ti is worrisome.
 
Dreamliner prototype experienced a fire in the electrical system, apparantly knocking out ALL electrical supply from generators, leading to the RAT (Ram Air Turbine) deploying to supply emergency backup power.

...The purpose of the test flight?

To try out the nitrogen generator system, designed to suppress fires in the plane's fuel tanks... Oh, the irony! :LOL:

Jokes aside, happy to see that plane landing safely, with all hands aboard - some 30-40 people I read -uninjured. All's well that ends well they say. I guess Boeing has a bit of a headache now concerning the source of the fire and why it started, but it could have been so much worse.
 
Wow. Wiring inspection is really tough on these birds. Back when I was still doing airworthiness assurance the FAA and ATA had a big program in wiring safety on older planes. I always figured the problems we faced would lead to better wiring diagnostics and access for inspection in newer designs.
 
Well before the insulation was crappy. Supposedly they are doing better now (was it kapton wiring before? I forget which is which). The fire is a pretty big deal though. Hope they get it worked out as we need some of the newer more fuel efficient jets.
 
Yeah, they used kapton, which is a very good insulator for its weight I read, but unfortunately either inflammable or even explosive (maybe both, depending on the quantity of it present...) Some plane(s) a buncha years ago went down due to fires in the kapton insulation, and resulting shorts/failures, which is why kapton was banned on airliners...

What do they use now, teflon?
 
The insulation was brittle and cracked leading to arcing. I believe it was actually multiple polymer layers of some type. They wanted resistance to abrasion b/c of vibrations, but it got brittle.
 
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