Learn how materials scientists are developing coating systems to protect airplane engines from molten debris in a national lecture by Rebekah Webster, a 2019 Ph.D. of materials science and engineering and post-doctoral researcher with the Rolls-Royce University Technology Center on Advanced Materials Systems at the University of Virginia.Webster's dissertation focused on interactions between coating materials and ingested debris such as sand and volcanic ash that can melt in the hot section of a turbine engine. Her research can lead to new or customized coatings that allow engines to reach higher temperatures with greater efficiency.
Ingested debris, collectively referred to as calcium magnesium alumino-silicates or CMAS, can penetrate environmental barrier coatings and cause premature coating failure. CMAS attack is a pressing issue in the development of environmental barrier coatings applied to ceramic mix composites, which are replacing traditional nickel-base superalloys as engine materials.
Webster optimized CMAS resistance by controlling the preparation of a model material's composition and microstructure. Performance tests conducted at the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing indicate that Webster's findings can be translated to an ytterbium silicate environmental barrier coating deposited on a ceramic mix composite via air plasma spray.
Join Webster's Zoom webinar on Thursday, Dec. 10 at 3:00 p.m. ET or Friday, Dec. 11 at 4:00 p.m. ET.
More information about the program and the technical abstract for Webster's lecture, “Mixed Phase Ytterbium Silicate Environmental-Barrier Coatings for Improved CalciumMagnesiumAlumino-Silicate Resistance,” is available from the North American Materials Colloquium Series. The series showcases some of the best and brightest senior graduate students and post-doctoral scholars in the field of materials science and engineering.