Published 12/27/2023

GE Aerospace awarded demonstration contract for NASA HyTEC project

Turbofan engine small core technology development with CMC-coated components targets enhanced fuel efficiency in single-aisle aircraft by mid-2030s.

Edited by: Grace Nehls

Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld

Michael Presby, a research materials engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, adjusts an infrared thermal imaging camera used to monitor the temperature profile of a NASA-developed, high-temperature environmental barrier coating deposited on a CMC in support of the agency’s HyTEC project. The composite’s environmental barrier coating surface temperature is 3,000ºF. Photo Credit: NASA/Bridget Caswell

NASA (Washington, D.C., U.S.) has selected GE Aerospace (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) to work with the agency’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project, which is aiming to develop more fuel-efficient engines for single-aisle aircraft. As part of the project, HyTEC will be implementing ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials in some engine components with environmental barrier coatings.

The HyTEC’s Phase 2 Integrated Core Technology Demonstration is a cost-sharing contract with a maximum value of approximately $68.1 million and a 5-year performance period that begins Feb. 15, 2024. The contract is awarded with a 50% minimum GE Aerospace cost share during the contract period.

Part of NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles program, HyTEC was established in June 2021 to accelerate the development of turbofan engine small core technologies. The project also includes work on hybridization — developing methods to pull more electrical power from this engine to power other systems aboard the aircraft, which could increase fuel efficiency in much the same way a hybrid car does. In a 2022 article on the subject, Anthony Nerone, who leads the HyTEC project from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, said that “with the small-core engine in specific, we are targeting a 5-10% fuel burn reduction,” though he notes that, combined with other initiatives, this estimation could increase.

This cross-section of a turbofan jet engine shows the components of the HyTEC project’s smaller engine core, with the compressor, combustor, and turbine noted. By shrinking the engine core, better fuel efficiency can be achieved. Photo Credit: NASA

The first phase of the project focused on developing several key engine core technologies, including high-pressure compressors, high-pressure turbines, advanced materials, electric hybridization and compact combustors, through subsystem or component tests. To meet the goal of HyTEC Phase 2, GE Aerospace will integrate these technologies into an engine core to perform a compact, high-power density core ground demonstration by the end of September 2028. This next step is in line with NASA’s plan to “collaborate with engine companies to make small-core technologies available much sooner than planned … for use in aviation fleets around the mid-2030s.”

In May 2023, NASA provided additional updates about the HyTEC program indicating positive progress, including the advanced testing required before conducting an engine core demonstration with industry partners.

Noting that downsizing a jet engine’s fuel-consuming core means it runs hotter, and thus requires new heat-resistant materials that require less cooling, researchers discovered a solution in CMC and environmental barrier coatings (EBCs). In an effort to cut down on their material options, HyTEC put sample composites coated with different EBCs — made into the actual shape and size of something that would be used in a jet engine — through an array of heat, pressure and durability tests in NASA Glenn’s materials laboratories.

Learn more about the results here.