Airfoils for gas turbine engines
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsAbhijeet Jayshingrao Yadav, Nicholas J. Kray, Nitesh Jain
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Abstract
An airfoil for a gas turbine engine. The airfoil includes an inner portion including a hollow fiber composite, and a surface portion including a solid fiber composite. The surface portion at least partially surrounds the inner portion. The hollow fiber composite of the inner portion can be a woven composite with at least one of a warp fiber or a weft fiber including a hollow carbon fiber. The hollow fiber composite of the inner portion also can be a braided composite with at least one strand including a hollow carbon fiber.
Claims21
An airfoil for a gas turbine engine having a disk and a fan hub covering the disk, the airfoil comprising:
- a spar formed by an airfoil root and an inner portion, the airfoil root having a first solid fiber composite, and the inner portion including a hollow fiber composite, the hollow fiber composite having hollow fibers and solid reinforcing fibers, the airfoil root attaching the airfoil to the disk;
- and
- a surface portion at least partially surrounding the inner portion, the surface portion including a second solid fiber composite.
19-20. (canceled)
An airfoil for a gas turbine engine, the airfoil comprising:
- an inner portion including a hollow fiber composite, the hollow fiber composite including tows having a mixture of solid fibers and hollow fibers, with each respective tow having at least five weight percent to ninety-nine weight percent of the hollow fibers by a total weight of the respective tow;
- and
- a surface portion at least partially surrounding the inner portion, the surface portion including a solid fiber composite.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.