Cavitation Peening of Aerospace Bearings

High-value bearings are a critical part of the safety, reliability, cost and performance of modern aircraft. A typical passenger jet will have 100 to 175 high-valve bearings costing from $2,500 to $50,000 each for a total aircraft cost of $300,000 to $600,000. All gas turbine engine bearings are inspected at overhaul and typically 30-40% of there are rejected. For each engine overhaul, bearing replacement costs on average $100,000. Any process that increases bearing performance and reliability will have a commensurate effect on aircraft safety, reliability, performance and operating cost. Ormond is proposing to use a novel surface enhancement process, cavitation peening, to impart deep, high magnitude residual stresses without roughening the bearing such as to significantly enhance bearing life, reliability and performance. Cavitation peening uses ultra-high pressure water jets to generate intense clouds of cavitation bubbles that collapse on the work piece generating shock waves that cold work the material. No particles are used, the process produces no waste, adds no weight to the part and is very inexpensive. The new technology is currently being evaluated by Boeing, Sikorsky, Bell and Rolls-Royce for aerospace applications and is proving particularly effective for gears. A 20% improvement in bearing life is targeted. This project would generate the residual stress and fatigue data for bearings to convince stakeholders of the value of the technology for this application.

The target application for NASA programs is primarily aircraft gas turbines, particularly high performance engines where the added bearing rating could be utilized to increase engine output or reduce fuel consumption. Other NASA applications could be any rotating components where weight or power consumption is an issue.

Bearings are a fundamental mechanical component used throughout transportation, energy generation,and manufacturing. Improving bearing load ratings in a cost effective manner could have a significant impact on automobile fuel economy, wind turbine power generation, aircraft engine efficiency and reliability, manufacturing machinery reliability, and just about any other rotating component. With all these applications, the US bearing market is a worth $75B/year, with more than 75 bearing manufacturers.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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