2021
Volume 21, Number 3, pp. 88-102
An issue with gas turbines that no one wishes to talk about but is ever present in cabin air
Graeme A. Davidson
6 Arran Court, 53-55 Kirk Street, Strathaven, Lanarkshire ML10 6LB
Modern airliners bleed air off the gas turbine engines used to propel them in order to pressurize and heat the aircraft cabin at high altiutude. Efficient performance of such engines requires extremely tight clearances between rotating components and their shrouds. Coating one of the mating surfaces with an abradable material is a highly effective way of achieving the tightness. Abrasion, however, releases ultrafine particles into the engine airstream; the particles then pass into the cabin via the bleed air system. Due to their size and composition, they may engender adverse health effects in human beings inhaling cabin air.
Keywords: abradable coating, aircraft, bleed air, compressor, health impacts, particles, thermal spraying, ultrafine particles