Fatigue Behavior of an Advanced Melt-Infiltrated SIC/SIC Composite with Environmental Barrier Coating at 1200°C in Air and in Steam

SiC fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composites are being evaluated for aircraft engine hot-section components.

Pulse Plasma Nitriding for Aerospace Applications

Aerospace manufacturers who depend on nitriding components can benefit from greater uniformity of results, better-protected materials, and increased throughput.

Sensing Applied Load and Damage Effects in Composites with Nondestructive Techniques

Determine the effects of applied load on a composite structure.

Stress-Corrosion Cracking and Corrosion Fatigue Impact of IZ-C17+Zinc-Nickel on 4340 Steel

The protection of cathodic metallic materials used for aircraft components, like 4340, Aermet 100, and PH 13-8 corrosion-resistant steel, is critical...

Spectrum Fatigue of 7075-T651 Aluminum Alloy Under Overloading and Underloading

Most structural members and machine components are subjected in service to cyclic loadings of varying amplitude. The variation in stress level follows either a...

Solving the Power/Energy Paradox for High-Power Defense Applications

While often used interchangeably, power and energy are not the same. Energy is the capacity to perform and power is the rate at which that capacity is exercised — the...

Thermo-Elastic Nondestructive Evaluation of Fatigue Damage in PMR-15 Resin

New aircraft are expected to use more composite materials. This drives the need for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of composite materials. Current aircraft are flown...

Characterization of Ceramic Composite Materials Using Terahertz Nondestructive Evaluation Techniques

This work describes the use of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to characterize defects such as rust, voids, etc. in materials,...

Fastener Inserts

Fastener Inserts Designed for Lightweight Aerospace Materials Reduce Risks, Costs

Ongoing efforts to increase fuel efficiency, tactical mobility, and payload capacity in aerospace design have driven engineers to find...

SWORD Simulation Software

MASA Group, a developer of Artificial Intelligence (AI)- based Modeling & Simulation (M&S) software for the defense, public safety, emergency management, and serious games markets, has launched SWORD 5.0,...

Thermal Mechanical Fatigue Crack Growth Testing

Turbines in aircraft turbojet engines are being subject to increasingly higher temperatures to improve fuel efficiency. High turbine efficiency requires the ability of turbine blades to...

Fatigue Crack Detection Via Load-Differential Guided Wave Methods

Guided waves (e.g., Lamb waves) have been considered for many structural health monitoring (SHM) applications because of their ability to travel long distances and maintain...

Prognostic Health Management for Avionics System Power Supplies

Electronic systems such as electronic controls, onboard computers, communications, navigation, and radar perform many critical functions onboard military and commercial...

Gas Turbine Exhaust Recovery Design Improves Propulsion Efficiency

In January, Concepts NREC (CN) was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the Navy to improve the power efficiency of its gas turbine prime...

Cracking of Aluminum Panels Repaired With Composite Patches

An experimental study of the mechanical behavior of cracked aluminum specimens repaired with composite-material patches has yielded findings that may eventually contribute to the...

Continuous Carbon Nanofibers for Structural Composites

A program of research has addressed key issues in the production of continuous carbon nanofibers and the utilization of carbon nanofibers as the reinforcing components in matrix/fiber...

Ceramic Matrix Composites Research

AFRL scientists characterized and evaluated the high-temperature mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials used in aerospace structural applications. Researchers...