Development of Ceramic Turbocharger Rotors for High Temperature Use

Abstract

A ceramic turbocharger rotor (CTR) for high temperature use has been developed. The features of this rotor are the use of silicon nitride which maintains high mechanical strength up to 1,200 °C and a new joining technique between the ceramic rotor and its metal shaft. The CTR is expected to cope with stoichiometrical mixture burning engines which produce a higher exhaust gas temperature for fuel economy, and the impact resistance of the rotor against foreign object damage (FOD) has been markedly increased, over that of earlier rotors, resulting in higher reliability. This paper describes the development of ceramic turbocharger rotors for high temperature use focusing on the mechanical strength of silicon nitride and the joining of the ceramic rotor and its metal shaft.

Small recuperated ceramic microturbine demonstrator concept

“…Reducing the turbine rotor inertia by utilizing a ceramic radial flow turbine has been adopted for some applications, particularly in the last two decades mainly in Japan [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Advanced Structural Ceramics --From Research to Applications--

“…10 These silicon nitride ceramics were applied to the automobile turbo charger rotors, not only limited to Formula-1 racing machines 11 but also commercial passenger cars 12 where over 300000 units were produced by NGK. Further improvement of creep behavior at an elevated temperature was achieved in the Y 2 O 3 -Yb 2 O 3 doped silicon nitrides.…”