Strategic Partnership in Structural Metallic Systems for Gas Turbines

英国航空业是欧洲最大的航空业，在全球范围内仅次于美国。航空航天部门直接支持了3000多家公司，并在英国提供了23万个就业机会。重要的是，这些就业大多落在东南部以外的地区，平均工资高于全国平均水平。在英国，燃气轮机发动机制造占航空航天业务的32%，由罗尔斯-罗伊斯主导，有11.4万个工作岗位由罗尔斯-罗伊斯及其供应链支持。这一研究计划汇集了伯明翰大学、剑桥大学、帝国理工学院、曼彻斯特大学、牛津大学、谢菲尔德大学和斯旺西大学，进行基础研究，以实现新材料技术，使燃气轮机的效率发生阶段性变化。这将有助于确保英国大部分航空航天行业的商业竞争力，同时减少英国的二氧化碳排放，从而满足国际立法并降低不可逆转的气候变化的可能性。研究将专注于开发新的高性能钢、镍、钴、钛和铌基合金，以满足燃气轮机发动机最苛刻的应用。它还将寻求获得对这些材料的性能和降解的基本了解，以确保在不影响发动机性能的情况下安全使用这些材料。它还将包括研究关键使能技术的额外活动，如涡轮叶片密封的先进连接方法和材料。这些材料技术将与工业合作伙伴密切合作开发，以确保它们符合工业需求，并提供商业开发路线。

The UK aerospace industry is the largest in Europe and, worldwide, second only to the US. The aerospace sector directlysupports more than 3,000 companies and provides 230,000 jobs in the UK. Importantly, most of this employment fallsoutside the south-east and the average wage is above the national average. In the UK, the manufacture of gas turbineengines represents 32% of the aerospace business and is dominated by Rolls-Royce, with 114,000 jobs supported byRolls-Royce and its supply chain.This research programme brings together the universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Imperial College, Manchester,Oxford, Sheffield and Swansea, to perform the fundamental research required to realise new materials technologies thatwill provide step-changes in the efficiency of gas turbines. This will help secure the commercial competitiveness of much ofthe UK aerospace industry whilst simultaneously serving to reduce UK CO2 emissions, thereby satisfying internationallegislation and decreasing the likelihood of irreversible climate change.The research will focus on the development of the new, high performance steels, nickel, cobalt, titanium and niobium-basedalloys required for the most demanding applications with gas turbine engines. It will also seek to obtain thefundamental understanding of the performance and degradation of these materials needed to ensure that they may beused safely, without compromising engine performance. It will also include additional activities investigating key enablingtechnologies, such as advanced joining methods and materials for turbine blade seals.These materials technologies will be developed in close collaboration with the industrial partners to ensure that they arematched to industrial need and that a route for commercial exploitation is available.