Ceramic Technology For Advanced Heat Engines Program Data Base

Significant accomplishments in fabricating ceramic components for advanced heat engine programs have provided evidence that the operation of ceramic parts in high-temperature engine environments is feasible. However, these programs have also demonstrated that additional research is needed in materials and processing development, design methodology, and database and life prediction before industry will have a sufficient technology base from which to produce reliable cost-effective ceramic engine components commercially. An assessment of needs was completed, and a five year project plan was developed with extensive input from private industry. The project approach includes determining the mechanisms controlling reliability, improving processes for fabricating existing ceramics, developing new materials with increased reliability, and testing these materials in simulated engine environments to confirm reliability. Although this is a generic materials project, the focus is on the structural ceramics for advanced gas turbine and diesel engines, ceramic bearings and attachments, and ceramic coatings for thermal barrier and wear applications in these engines. To facilitate the rapid transfer of this technology to US industry, the major portion of the work is being done in the ceramic industry, with technological support from government laboratories, other industrial laboratories, and universities. This project is managed by ORNL for the Office of Transportation Technologies, Office of Transportation Materials, and is closely coordinated with complementary ceramics tasks funded by other DOE offices, NASA, DOD, and industry.

A large volume and wide variety of data on the behavior of advanced ceramic materials are currently being generated within the Ceramic Technology for Advanced Heat Engines project (CTAHE). This is the second in a series of reports summarizing the data stored in the microcomputer-based CTAHE data base. Each report features a different class of ceramics, with as much information on materials in that class as has then been processed. This report concentrates on zirconia-based ceramics.

The Ceramic Technology For Advanced Heat Engines Project was developed by the Department of Energy's Office of Transportation Systems (OTS) in Conservation and Renewable Energy. This project, part of the OTS's Advanced Materials Development Program, was developed to meet the ceramic technology requirements of the OTS's automotive technology programs. Significant accomplishments in fabricating ceramic components for the Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Department of Defense (DOD) advanced heat engine programs have provided evidence that the operation of ceramic parts in high-temperature engine environments is feasible. However, these programs have also demonstrated that additional research is needed in materials and processing development, design methodology, and data base and life prediction before industry will have a sufficient technology base from which to produce reliable cost-effective ceramic engine components commercially.