nagaremonoX

Using Titanium for engine rotors is pointless. Has anyone ever blown their rotor?(That is to say the rotor was the first part to fail in the engine, not the rotor being damaged from a blown apex seal or something like that) The only real advantage of using Ti over steel for the rotors would be weight, but aluminum is at least as light as Ti and a lot cheaper too. It may not have the thermal resistance of Ti, but you could replace lots of warped rotors for the price of a custom Ti rotor.

The apex seals are a different story. Here the extra strength of Ti would be beneficial, but it is still brittle and expensive. Anyone know the element that rocket scientists preffer? It's nickle. My friend has been working at Boeing for 19years working on the spaceshuttle main engine. They do use a lot of titanium in the engines/related parts, but the parts on the engine that see really heavy loads(esp the blades on the fuel pump which generates 4million+hp) are all made of nickle based alloys because of nickles high tenstile strength. I forget the exact number, but I think it's in the range of 180-190(compared to 110-115 for Ti). The only problem with nickle is that it's heavy, but on small parts like the apex seals it shouldn't make a big difference.