| Abstract | Aircraft engine components, such as compressor blades, vanes, and impeller blisks/wheels, when operating in a sandy environment, can experience severe erosion damage due to ingestion of sand particles. As erosion progresses, the substantial amount of material removal not only leads to further aerodynamic losses but results in the structural weakening of blades as well. Replacement of the parts, whose erosion damage limits have been reached, significantly increases the maintenance and downtime costs. Applying erosion resistant coatings on airfoil surface has been proven as an effective approach to extending the serviceable life of gas turbine engine components. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the factors affecting erosion damage to engine components, the basic requirements that erosion resistant coatings need to satisfy, the various coating systems that have been developed with excellent erosion resistance, as well as the erosion durability testing techniques applied to evaluate and qualify erosion-resistant coatings. Several technical challenges related to the development of erosion resistant coatings are also briefly discussed. |
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