Demonstration of Coating Techniques for Reduced Engine Maintenance Costs – Phase II

NCMS Project #: 142178

Problem: Damage, degradation, and spallation of thermal protection coatings of key aircraft engine components resulting from sustained operation in austere environments drives the need for coating technologies to mitigate the performance and durability risks to engines.  Maintenance and sustainment of engine components is both costly and time consuming and can pose safety and reliability risks to commercial and military aircraft alike.

Benefit: This demonstration will serve to extend the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 6 of the dust mitigation coatings to a broader range of applications, configurations, and operating environments for both commercial and military aircraft.

Solution/Approach: This initiative will test coatings that take a unique approach to sand mitigation by keeping the current airfoil coating and applying additional treatments which improve the sand tolerance of the coating.  Phase II will provide an engine Acceptance Test and detailed hardware inspection to verify successful application of the advanced coated components and establish an engine performance and hardware baseline condition prior to additional tests.

Impact on Warfighter:

• Reduce aircraft maintenance costs 
• Improve durability and engine performance 
• Increase safety 
• Extend warfighter readiness 

DOD Participation:

• Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) 

Industry Participation:

• General Electric
• NCMS

Benefit Area(s):

• Cost savings
• Repair turn-around time
• Maintenance avoidance and reliability
• Safety
• Improved readiness
• Energy efficiency
• Durability
• Reliability improvement

Focus Area:

• Coatings and corrosion prevention