GE Aviation and Turbocoating SPA form Coating Joint Venture

GE Aviation and Turbocoating SPA of Parma, Italy, have formed a 50/50 joint venture, called Advanced Ceramic Coatings, to provide thermal barrier coatings for CMCs used in jet engines.

Advanced Ceramic Coatings (ACC) will operate from a dedicated area of Turbocoating’s U.S. operation in Hickory, North Carolina. Advanced Ceramic Coatings will combine Turbocoating’s proprietary coatings technologies and industrial processes with GE Aviation’s coatings processes developed specifically for CMCs to focus on producing advanced coatings applied to GE’s high-temperature CMCs in the post-fabrication phase.

The joint venture expects to deliver its first coated components in late 2015, including CMC shrouds for the best-selling LEAP engine from CFM International, the 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma (Safran) of France. The LEAP is the first commercial jet engine in the aviation industry to use CMCs in the hot high-pressure turbine section.

The creation of Advanced Ceramic Coatings is one of several recent business initiatives by GE Aviation to create the supply chain required to produce CMCs in large volume. In October of this year, GE Aviation formally opened its new factory for mass producing CMCs in Asheville, NC.

The use of lightweight and heat-resistant CMCs in the hot section of GE jet engines is a significant breakthrough. CMCs are made of silicon carbide ceramic fibers and ceramic matrix, and enhanced with proprietary coatings. With one-third the density of metal alloys, these ultra-lightweight CMCs reduce the overall engine weight.

Source and image: GE Aviation