Structural design and performance analysis of SiCf/Ti2AlNb composite bling

Meeting the stringent requirements of rotating components under extreme service conditions poses an urgent need for high-strength and lightweight materials in the aerospace industry. Continuous silicon carbide fiber-reinforced Ti 2 AlNb composites (SiC f /Ti 2 AlNb) have emerged as promising candidates due to their low density, high specific strength, and excellent fatigue resistance. However, the structural design of composite blings remains challenging because of the anisotropic and heterogeneous characteristics of SiC f /Ti 2 AlNb, leading to complex stress distributions and severe stress concentrations, particularly near blade-root transitions and ring junctions. To address these issues, this study proposes a novel bling structure featuring a composite supporting ring integrated with metallic aerofoils to achieve synergistic improvements in lightweighting and load-bearing capacity. Based on the anisotropic constitutive behavior of SiC f /Ti 2 AlNb, a finite element model was established to analyze the effects of key geometric parameters on the structural performance, such as the width of the composite reinforcement ring, the inner diameter of the bling, and the radius of the transition chamfer. Additionally, the damage process of SiC f /Ti 2 AlNb bling under rotational loading was investigated to understand its failure mechanism. The results demonstrate that increasing the width of the composite ring effectively reduces maximum stress in the bling by enlarging the load-bearing area. Furthermore, increasing the inner diameter of the bling and decreasing the radius of the transition chamfer reduce the maximum stress in the metal aerofoils. Local optimization combined with an increase in the composite strength from 1800 MPa to 2000 MPa reduces the bling mass by 17.6% relative to a Ti2AlNb alloy bling, and damage initiates at the inner-diameter inter-blade fibers at 122% of the design speed. These findings provide valuable insights and a design foundation for the development of high-performance, lightweight composite bling structures for advanced aero-engine applications.