(San Antonio)—Texas
Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) researchers in San Antonio have
received $1 million for helicopter rotor blade protection research.
John F. Ayala will direct the project, "Rotor Blade Protection Against
Sand and Water Erosion," which aims to improve the protective coatings
on rotor blades.
Ayala directs the Aerospace, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering
Division in TEES's Texas Center for Applied Technology (TCAT) in San
Antonio and also chairs the Academic Center for Aging Aircraft (ACAA),
which focuses research on issues related to aging aircraft in the military
under the guidance and direction of the Joint Council on Aging Aircraft,
composed of representatives of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force,
the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Logistics Agency.
Other principal investigators will be Paul Cizmas and John Slattery,
both faculty in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M
University, and researchers from the University of Dayton Research Institute.
Congress has funded the project for Fiscal Year 2007 because of the research's
importance to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
"The current war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are in sandy, desert
terrain," Ayala said. "The sand is eroding the paint of the main
and tail rotor blades of the helicopters, which has a big impact on the readiness
of the helicopters. A similar problem occurs when operating in humid marine
environments or rain.
"We can extend the useful life of rotor blades by having coatings that
are not easily eroded," Ayala said.
Congressman Henry Bonilla, who was instrumental in securing funding for
the research, said, "The United States has the most technologically
advanced military in the world, but maintaining this highly-specialized
equipment is as vital as its development. The tiniest particles of sand
can cause tremendous damage over time to the aircraft rotor blades. With
our ongoing operations in the Middle East, now more than ever we need to
focus on protecting our military aircraft in this harsh environment. I
am proud to be able to secure $1 million for this project to study the
effects of water and sand erosion so that we might develop the necessary
coating to prevent further damage."
The rotor blade protection research began two years ago with an ACAA project
that resulted in a method that accelerated the testing and screening of
coatings for helicopters rotor blade protection against sand. Coatings
help protect rotor blades against premature aging due to environmental
conditions, and Texas A&M aerospace engineering professors Cizmas and
Slattery developed the first approach for evaluating relative sand-erosion
resistance.
"The erosion of these protective coatings can have significant impact
on helicopter readiness, and evaluating these coatings will help the armed
services," said G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. "This
is just one of the many ways TEES and Texas A&M engineering researchers
are applying their knowledge to make a difference, and we are grateful to Congressman
Bonilla for his support."
The coatings are eroded by sand, water or both, Ayala said. The Texas A&M
approach looks at all three types of erosion and also can be used to identify
how coatings should be redesigned to improve adhesiveness and effectiveness
of coatings.
The TEES researchers will work with the University of Dayton Research Institute
(UDRI), an ACAA partner institution, which does sand erosion testing for
the Department of Defense. The University of Dayton Research Institute,
with its U.S. Air Force Particle Erosion Test Facility and Rain Erosion
Test Facility, can simulate these environments and evaluate the erosion
effects on coated aircraft surfaces.
Cizmas and Slattery plan to extend the Texas A&M approach for sand
erosion to water erosion. A testing program will include the influence
of sand particle and water droplet size, impact angle, coating thickness,
adhesive type, impact velocity and temperature.
The end result is to be able to qualify and certify various coatings that
DOD should procure or even invest in for rotor blades.
"We can help the DOD pick the best coatings and also influence coating
design," Ayala said. 