This article was taken from the January 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
This engine could be powering your business trips by 2016.
Called the LEAP, it boasts laser-printed fuel nozzles, heat-resistant ceramic composites and woven carbon-fibre fan blades: three first-time material innovations designed to cut fuel consumption. "It really is a radical jump in aviation," says Gareth Richards, LEAP programme manager at GE, which builds the engine's core. Given that fuel accounts for one third of an airline's operating costs, its 15 per cent saving could make the difference between profit and loss, says Richards.
LEAP's fan blades are made by weaving carbon-fibre strands into a solid, allowing for shapes that weren't possible with titanium. "We use specialised looms to weave them," says Richards. Blades are much lighter, although just as strong, and in the engine's hottest parts many components are made from GE--engineered ceramic mixed with silicon carbon fibres. These are two-thirds lighter, twice as strong and can withstand 20 per cent higher temperatures. The design also reduces CO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>X</sub> emissions by 50 per cent.
3D printing has been used in aviation for years, but the LEAP uses additive techniques to produce an unusually sophisticated and critical part: fuel nozzles. These spray fuel into the engine and were previously composed of 22 pieces; here, lasers fuse 20-micron-thick layers of metal powder into shape, and the nozzles can be designed as a single, solid piece -- making them 25 per cent lighter and five times more durable. "We have plans to expand its use across the engine -- for much bigger parts," says Richards.
Preorders worth $78 billion (£43 billion) to date have been placed by 20 countries. The engines, being developed by CFM (a 50-50 collaboration between GE and France's aircraft and rocket engineer manufacturer Snecma), go into production next year and are scheduled to take to the skies in the Airbus A320neo from 2016.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
