What materials are used to make the high temperature-high pressure bearing parts in a jet engine? I'm asking about the combustion chamber, combustors, nozzle and diffuzers (as in ramjets) rather than turbomachinery. Could cast aluminium or cast steel do the job for a low thrust small model engine?
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1$\begingroup$ There's this question ( aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/25645/…). I would think it would have to depend on the temperatures you will have to withstand. There have been things like car motors, or portions made out of cast aluminum or cast steel, but those are not really seeing the temps of a jet engine. $\endgroup$– AlexCommented Dec 19, 2018 at 15:27
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5$\begingroup$ you can, by lowering the operating temperature of the hot section, but that will make the engine very inefficient. the history of gas turbine has been pushing the temperature higher by advancing material and cooling technology but now you are trying to do the reverse. $\endgroup$– user3528438Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 15:45
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$\begingroup$ If you're looking to build your own small jet engine, there are lots of links on how to build them using an automotive turbocharger as the core. $\endgroup$– jamesqfCommented Sep 9, 2020 at 5:15
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2 Answers
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Short answer: No. Unfortunately the yield strength of typical aluminum alloys drops off after about 300° F and long term exposure to high temperatures dramatically affects their creep and fatigue lives. Typical aviation gas turbine hot sections run between 3000°-3800° F and rotate at angular speeds as high as 40,000 RPM, making Aluminum totally unsuitable for this role. Most hot section components eg cumbustors, stator buckets, rotor buckets, etc. are manufactured from exotic nickel-cobalt superalloys and employ novel single crystal casting techniques as well as passages to bleed compressor air as a boundary layer over them to protect them from that kind of intense heat.
answered Dec 19, 2018 at 16:25
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Aluminum has a melting point of 660 C.
Really depends on what "low thrust small model engine" refers to. But if it burns kerosene or jet fuel, probably not for the combustion chamber.
