China-made engine main bearing fatigue life test exceeded 50,000 hours

Recently, news came from the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials that the anti-fatigue life test of key components of aero-engines it implemented exceeded 50,000 hours, which is another new breakthrough in China's high-end equipment manufacturing technology level.

It is reported that the key component of this test is the main bearing of the engine dedicated to the aviation field. The equivalent accelerated test fatigue life on the tester did not fail for 50,000 hours, setting a new record in China.

As we all know, the engine is the core of the main components of the aircraft, and the fatigue life of the engine directly affects the service life of the entire aircraft. When the aircraft has been flying in the sky for thousands of hours or tens of thousands of hours, if the main bearing of the engine fails, the engine cannot run normally, and the aircraft can no longer fly.

This test simulates the working conditions of the aero-engine. So far, the accelerated equivalent life has been tested for 50,000 hours without failure, and the test is still in progress.

Experts said that during the operation and service of high-end equipment such as aircraft and high-speed rail, its key components will suffer from "fatigue" like people. For example, cracks in components or fractures lead to product failure, which has always been a major problem in the world engineering field. However, in the past ten years, Chinese researchers have independently developed a number of key anti-fatigue manufacturing technologies through continuous independent innovation and technological breakthroughs. On this basis, a relatively complete anti-fatigue manufacturing technology system has been established, which has better solved the fatigue failure problem of key components and laid a good foundation for the full autonomy of China's high-end equipment. As a professional test anti-fatigue manufacturing technology, the most important thing is to look at the manufacture of key components. China already has the level of manufacturing all key components. The life and reliability of high-end equipment are reflected by key components. With key components, more high-end equipment can be made.

Although China has the ability to produce autonomous engines, its fatigue life performance is not high. For example, China's best turbofan-10 engine has only 1,500 hours of anti-fatigue flight, while the US F-119 engine can fly for 12,000 hours. The main reason for such a large gap is that the performance of China's refractory materials is not good enough, and it is not comparable to the United States. This is illegal, and AFP ridiculed us in China, saying that you should not fly so many missions in the Taiwan Strait, which will cause a lot of extra maintenance costs and shorten the service life of the aircraft. But China doesn't care about that. The mission to fly across the Taiwan Strait is a national act to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it is necessary. We have a strong economic strength to support us, just take it as daily training, we have more than 1,000 planes, and we can fly in turns, so what are we afraid of.

Today, this new breakthrough in the fatigue life test of key components has laid a solid foundation for us to develop high-performance, long-life engines in the future, and manufacture the world's longest-flying aircraft and higher-end equipment, which also means that China In this field has been at the international leading level.

Under this background, the 11th Annual China Aerospace Propulsion Technology Forum 2023 is scheduled to be held in Changsha City, Hunan Province, from September 21 to 22, 2023. The forum aims to promote the technical exchanges and cooperation of aerospace propulsion technology, share the latest trend of aviation power, and explore future layout of aero-engine. Take full advantage of the forum platform to discuss new trends in technology, new achievements in scientific research, grasp new opportunities for win-win cooperation, and expand cooperation and share opportunities with domestic and foreign superior enterprises, universities and research institutes.