Materials Selection for Jet Engine Fan Blades

Class project Materials Selection

Fall 2022

Johns Hopkins University

Ansys Granta, FGM equations, material selection, presentations

Select a material for a novel jet fan blade:
-Minimize the weight of each blade
-The blade must not yield due to rotationally imposed stresses
-Must bear centrifugal loads for at least 10,000 engine flights (high fatigue)
-Stress intensity factor must be less than the fracture toughness (no fast fracture)
-Minimize vibrational fatigue effects
-Minimum operating temperature of 200℉

I was project leader on this group project with I. Rentería, D. Tan, and A. Diaz. We presented our findings in a presentation to a panel of the teaching assistants and the professor in a "board room" style pitch meeting.

We presented a "budget friendly" option of BS S143 Stainless steel and a "high performance" option of Grade SR-200 Beryllium. However, we overlooked more modern and conventional options like aluminum, titanium, and CFRP. Overwise, the presentation was favorable to the panel and received high marks.

This project taught me how to manage difficult team members who were not contributing to the final goal. I gained experience presenting our findings in a convincing, persuasive manner to experts with extensive industry backgrounds. I learned how to balancing conflicting design requirements to compromise on a material choice. Finally, I learned to not get fixated on the outcome of Ashby charts and conduct more industry research on existing or emerging solutions, rather than presenting antiquated material choices.