Alcoa, Pittsburgh, announced at the Farnborough Air Show that it has signed a ten-year, $1.1 billion agreement with Pratt & Whitney for state-of-the-art jet engine components. Alcoa will supply key parts for Pratt & Whitney’s engines, including the forging for the first ever aluminum fan blade for jet engines.
Its advanced gear system allows the fan to rotate at a slower speed and the hot section to operate at higher speeds, optimizing the running conditions of both. The large, lightweight fan moves more than 90% of the air around the core, delivering a very quiet engine with very low fuel burn. The larger fan diameter also opens the door to materials beyond titanium and composites.
The forging was developed for Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower engines using an advanced aluminum alloy and a proprietary manufacturing process. Also for the PurePower engines, Alcoa is developing a fan blade forging using its most advanced aluminum-lithium alloy.
Alcoa plans to use aluminum and aluminum-lithium from its facilities in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Lafayette, Ind., for the front fan blades, which will be produced via proprietary manufacturing processes at its plant in Cleveland, Ohio. Several of Alcoa’s facilities, including La Porte, Indiana; Whitehall, Michigan; Dover, New Jersey; and Wichita Falls, Texas, will supply the blades, vanes, and structural components, produced using nickel-based superalloys and titanium as well as aluminum.
