Introduction
Surface science is the study of the physical and chemical properties that occur at the interface, including but not limited to the liquid-solid interface. On the other hand, surface engineering is the process of coating or modifying the physical components to enhance their properties. Surface engineering is also defined as the sub-discipline in material science that deals with the surface of a solid matter. On the other end, the product life cycle is the length of time a product is introduced to the market up to the time it is removed from the shelves. Product life cycle management entails many business strategies as the product goes through various stages of its life cycle from design to end of use. This paper seeks to describe the functions of the five stages of the product life cycle from design, realize, service use to end of life of the product by reflecting on findings from generic and individual case studies to describe how to ensure that a successful outcome is launched into service use and disposal. I will provide my perspective on this approach.
Design
The design intent is a computer-aided design that shows the relationship between two objects in surface engineering. The design allows one thing designed to propagate the other. The hot section of the aircraft requires a high-pressure (HP) turbine that regulates the air in and out of the aircraft engine. The unit is hot because it is right after the combustion section of the airplane. The HP turbine is designed so that any changes in the machine allow for free air circulation into the aircraft. The growing need for environment-friendly material has driven the development of strategies for material development. The use of ceramic matrix composites like silicon carbide-silicon material is essential to the development of the material (Rebillat, 2021). Albeit this material requires protection from the environmental debris ingested during operation, the Environmental Barrier Coating (EBC) measures are developed to protect Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) material, thus enabling them to operate under very harsh conditions.
The EBCs – coated CMCs are non-pollutant and do not emit carbon dioxide to the environment; thus, they are environmentally friendly. Therefore, the manufacturing company designed their HP shroud turbines so that it uses EBC – coated CMCs material because it is highly acceptable by the consumers of the product. The coated materials too are more efficient. The improved material of EBC coated CMC can reduce the cooling air, thus increasing the cycle efficiency to 300 C. The fuel burning in this case too is reduced to around 2% of the total fuel consumption. The choice of the manufacturing choice and the design intent were motivated by such advantages, among others, like the material used has a density of a third of that of nickel-based material, making it much lighter (Zivic, Palic, Jovanovic, & Grujović, 2021).
Since the density of the material used is a third of that of nickel-based material, it is essential to note that the material used in the turbine components allows for a 50% reduction in the weight of the HP shroud turbine, thus becoming more efficient and effective as most customers prefer it that way. For effective Cross Track Error (CTE), the design should be induced to be resistant to the cracking, steam induced degradation, corrosion, and oxidation, as well as CMAS degradation. The design should be resistant to high temperatures by using a chemical product that is compatible with high temperatures, and the reaction product should be conducive to the conditions. The silica volatilization, phase stability, CMAS attack as well as CTE mismatch should be maintained to allow for designing a product that is relatively cost-efficient and does not pollute the environment, and can stay for so long in the market because the future of the aircraft depends on the environmentally friendly design of HP shroud turbines (Tejero-Martin, Romero, Wellman, & Hussain, 2021).
How To Extend The Life of The Design Intent and Reduce The Manufacturing Cost.
The HP shroud turbines designed so far is efficient in reducing the fuel used in the combustion engine of the aircraft but can be developed further to be cost-effective and efficient turbine in aircraft engines. The improvement in the cooling mechanism and the thermal barrier coating in gas turbines has allowed the increase of the gas inlets temperatures up to 15000C, thus extending the product life by increasing the thermal efficiency, reducing the emission of the toxic by-products, and driving up the thrust to weight ratio. The CMC materials are not very expensive to obtain compared to nickel-based materials. The use of the CMC materials drives up the service operation and the operational strength of the jet engines, thus promising the product life of the engines compared to when using the Ni materials.
CMC materials provide excellent oxidation resistance by producing the protective silica layer upon chemical reaction under the presence of corrosive species or steam. Albeit this protective silica layer can be degraded during the process and thus compromise the efficiency of the CMC, an improvement has been made on the use of Coated CMC material which offers extra protection to the silica layer. The alumina coating will provide the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), thus protecting the silicon carbide components by preventing the spallation during the thermal cycling while improving the resistance to corrosive conditions. The protective system should be improved by matching the mullite and the silicon carbide composite components.
The establishment of the efficient environmental barrier coating is the generational development of the cost-effective protective material for planes and jet engines (Bakan, Mack, Lobe, Koch, & Vaßen, 2020). The ytterbium composition silicate coating is the most cost-effective earth silicate for any condition. Therefore, the manufacturing company should develop a design to improve the HP shroud turbines using the ytterbium silicate coating for protection against corrosion or oxidation. A more complex composition apart from using ytterbium silicate coating needs to be explored so that another earth silicate coating with better protective properties of high-temperature behaviors is cheaper. The intention should be to extend the life of the ceramic matrix composite and environmental barrier coating in shroud engines because it currently has very high demand in the market. The market for the product is promising in the future. Therefore, the manufacturing firms should innovate ways of product development that cope with the market demand and look into the end of the product in consideration of the customer needs in the market. Creating new ways of reducing the cost of manufacturing should also consider extending the life of the product.
Realize – Product Verification.
Product verification is the first step of product validation, verification, and implementation of the end product to test whether it can be adopted or not. The product verification proves whether the end product conforms with its required specifications or not. It is a system of technological processes that ensures that a product goes through the product integration or product implementation process in a form that makes the end product suitable for meeting its product life cycle phase criteria. Product verification strategy for the shroud product as discussed on day two of the product verification stage established that to verify whether the product conforms with; adhesive, chemistry, thickness, microstructure, or toughness, then measurement of the product engineering properties must be done to ascertain the chemical properties. The second thing is to measure the chemistry and the coating thickness, and the composition of the microstructure and the profile. The process inputs and in-line process monitoring are considered for the efficient performance of the product in the industry.
The thickness of the material is an important property measured against the effects of corrosion and the weight of the end product. The thickness should be enough to protect the end product from corrosion, and it should also be thick enough to conform with its requirement of being light enough for its purpose. The chemical reaction under high temperatures determines the corrosion, and therefore, it is essential to measure the product’s chemical properties. The microstructure and the composition profile of the material should be known to understand the thermal effect of the product in a highly corrosive environment. The product design should withstand high temperatures and corrosive species for it to be effective in HP shroud turbines because the area around the combustion section of the engine has very high temperatures (Guo, He, Li, He, Sun, & Guo, 2021). The silicate materials proposed to be coated with the CMC composite should be highly adhesive to serve its primary purpose of protecting the ceramic materials in the shroud turbines. The coating material, too, should be very tough to withstand the harsh conditions that the turbines are subjected to. This is necessary to design a durable product that will be in the market even to future generations. The intention is to have a long-lasting effect that will wither its product life cycle.
Mechanical Methods
The design of the HP shroud turbines coated with EBC silicate material has specific properties generated from data at the early stages of the design, which informs future development of the design to be cost-effective and minimize variability of the product. The material should provide a lifespan of more than ten years in the most cost-effective. The material should resist thermal shock and be adhesive to silicon-carbide silicon material (Mesquita-Guimarães, García, Miranzo, Osendi, Cojocaru, & Lima, 2012). The silicon bonding provides adhesion between the upper and the silicon carbide substance beneath it. The design process should also consider a material resistant to water vapor as that can lead to corrosion through rust. The future design should be informed by the need to have a product resistant to abrasive or surface damage from harsh environmental debris such as sand. Surface damage can be detrimental to turbine protection and the product’s lifespan.
The data from an early stage of the product’s manufacturing provides insight into the chemical criterion in evaluating the volatility of various silicate materials to be used in coating the CMC material. The design process should be cost-effective and guarantee a life span of more than ten years. The operation temperature is between 7000C and 9000C. Therefore the design process should be informed by this to design a product that is resistant to a temperature of up to 15000C to withstand the operating temperature for effective and efficient use in the gas turbines. The design should also benefit from barium strontium aluminum and yttrium disilicate to protect against water vapor and CMAS degradation so that the end product can withstand harsh environmental conditions.
The development of the testing and analysis method is essential during the verification stage of the product by visual inspection of the coating material by computer visuals like the use of optical cameras and manufacturing operatives (Zheng, Wei, Yan, & Yan, 2020). The thickness of the material can be measured using X-ray fluorescence. The X-ray diffraction, mass and IR spectrometry, SEM, and NMR are used to measure the microstructure and chemical profile of the material. On the other hand, the mechanical properties of the material can be measured using interface fracture testing, high-heat flux thermomechanical testing, and Nano – tip hardest testing. All these processes are cost-effective and work to minimize the cost of manufacturing the product while ensuring that the product life is extended and variability is reduced.
Realize – Product Validation.
Product validation is the second stage of the product life cycle that happens after the verification process has been done. The product validation strategy aims to ascertain whether the product meets the customer needs of resistance, spallation, recession, damage tolerance, among many other issues that are dear to customer satisfaction. To validate the product at this stage, as discussed during day three, CMAS material should be exposed to determine its resistivity to the harsh environmental conditions and determine whether it will serve the purpose of being resistant to the damage that can be caused by the ecological debris such as the sand. The material used should provide resistance to CMAS damage. The product is also exposed to long term cycling exposure to water vapor to determine whether the product is resistant to water vapor and cannot be affected by such conditions in its operational lifetime and the high steam cycling Rig Oxidation to examine whether the silica layer can withstand corrosion and harsh environmental conditions (Shyam, Srinivas, Gajrani, Udayakumar, & Sankar, 2021). This validation is vital in the future development of the manufacturer’s product design.
The product should also be validated using the high steam velocity burner to determine its recession as may be desired by the customers. If the test validates the product, it means that the product can be used at the operational temperature of up to 9000C, which is what the customers desire. Furthermore, the product should be validated by subjecting it to a high-heat flux laser. This will help to know whether the product can be used even at very high temperatures in the future, like temperatures of up to 15000C. This validates the product’s future life span as the product is still to undergo development in its development, and high temperatures can be part of it. Designing a promising product to work well even with future expected changes is poised to have a long life span (AN, CHEN, MING, & CHEN, 2021). The product should be taken through the various validation processes to determine its spallation, resistance, recession, and damage tolerance to ensure that it will meet the customers’ requirements in the market before the product is released to the market.
Digital Information
The increasing use of digital information is vital in marketing existing products and introducing new products to the ever-changing market. Change in the test and preference of people curves the demand curve of a product. Digital information has shaped the future of marketing products in the market. The aerospace industry is not exceptional; the future of product design is in the digital migration. Innovation and creativity within the aerospace industry need advanced technology supported by digital information (Zhang, Pang, Jia, & Shan, 2022). I predict that the future development of the design intent for HP shroud turbines will conform with the new technology of that generation because generations keep on improving after every epoch. The design intent should allow future changes if it has to extend its life. Digital information has enabled the manufacturers to obtain vital information about the product that will help design a product that is the right-first-time service offering and will easily penetrate the market.
Secondly, digital information helps to share the improvement of the product with the general public. This helps inform the public about the new product’s capabilities and what it can do. This will improve its market penetration and make it different from other products within the market. The digital information can be used to position the product in the market by crafting a robust messaging and positioning the product to appeal to the customers. An appealing message can easily catch the eyes of prospective customers. Digital information can also be used to identify the target population for the product, and all energies and strategies should be developed to gain the attention of the target population (Feng, Wang, Zhang, & Zheng, 2017). If the process works well with the initial population, then the digital information can be elevated to expand the target market and generate more revenue.
Hone in your customers is also an essential strategy in ensuring that the clients remain loyal to the products. Loyalty is key to the success of the product, and it makes the brand sell so quickly within the market. Loyal customers are great ambassadors of the product in a new market, and the company should focus on improving the loyalty of its customers and keeping them through digital information. Finally, failure in one market should not mean the end of the product; digital data can be used to conquer a new market; even if some markets are hostile, failure is a stepping stone to improving and developing the product using the feedback from customers through the digital platforms.
Service Use
The service introduction strategy, as discussed in the case study, entailed the management of the manufacturing operations and assets within the product life cycle- 50-year life cycle, the maintenance repairs and operations, and reactivating the sustainability of the company. The service introduction strategy provides a platform for the growth and development of the product in its life cycle. The goal is to help the service providers to grow and operate successfully in the long run and act strategically and provide the ability to think. Managing the manufacturing operations and asset helps to prioritize the investment operations that help in the aerospace company’s growth and define the service industry’s outcomes, which is crucial in measuring the effectiveness of the service management. It clears the direction in the company’s manufacturing operations and makes it easy for decision making (Wang, Zhang, & Feng, 2017).
The company sustainability depends on the service introduction strategy by managing the assets of the manufacturing firm. The service asset is the combination of resources and capabilities of the manufacturing company. When the service meets the expectation of the customers, then the service is said to have value, and customers will be willing to pay any amount to receive the benefit. The company will build on the service assets to improve its sustainability throughout the product life cycle of more than 50 years. Achieving both small and medium-term goals and objectives of the manufacturing company strengthens the company’s sustainability by providing the focus needed in decision-making that affects the future development of the product’s design. Sustainability provides a framework to focus on driving performance upwards and on investment decisions by engaging the stakeholders both external and internal to set a priority for action.
The maintenance, repair, and operations strategy influence the service introduction strategy. The growth and development of the manufacturing plant and the industry, in general, depends mainly on the service introduction strategy; the strategy should focus on maintenance, repair, and operation (MRO), which is the combination of activities and processes for the upkeep of the company. The firm’s maintenance includes the maintenance of the plant, the asset and equipment used within the facility, and the system that runs inside the plant. The strategy aims at improving the overall output of the business. These are the factors that motivate the adoption of the service introduction strategy.
Use of Information Generated During Early Stages of Service Use
The initial strategy of developing the product as it is in the early stages of the service use of the product life cycle towards the end of life of the product would be the information from; opportunity and innovation selection, preliminary design of the concept, the definition of the entire concept, the realization of the product, support of the product and the service, support of the continuing service, and the disposal of the end of life of the product. The information from the early stages of the product design can be utilized to develop and improve the design for future changes within the aerospace industry. Innovation within the industry will help improve the product’s design using information from its initial design through to product realization (Zheng, Wei, Yan, & Yan, 2020).
The strategies aim at using the most effective CMC materials coated with the most efficient EBCs materials to provide the most cost-effective manufactured HP shroud turbines in the market. The design based on the concept definition should provide for future innovation that will span close to 50 years from the inception of the idea. The product strategies could provide a platform for support of the product and the service to ensure that the product is customer-tailored and meets the customers’ requirements within the market. The strategies should support the continuity of the service strategies as discussed above.
Future Sustainability of The Product
The future of the aerospace product is to provide a product that is socially, economically, and environmentally beneficial to the public and protect the environment and the public health over its whole life, be it be 50 years or so, beginning from its extraction to the final stage of product disposal. The most critical issue here is the product’s ability to be manufactured and sold in the market for consumption. The future of the product is promising since, with advanced technology, the product does not deplete the natural resources or the renewable resources, and therefore, it would be sustainable. Furthermore, another critical issue surrounds environmental protection. The future of the product should safeguard the environment without causing harm to the environment. The ceramic matrix composites and the silicate coating should not cause any damage to the environment because any harm to the environment makes the product unsustainable. The firm should minimize the manufacturing plant’s negative impacts on the environment.
The other critical concept is about public responsibility. The product should be manufactured in a socially responsible manner, and its sustainability is anchored in the social responsibility principle. Sustainable product practices equal and fair hiring with diverse talents without discrimination and ensure that the minority in the plant are heard. The sustainable product ensures that the welfare, health, success, and well-being of the people who manufacture the product are taken care of severely. The cities and the countries where the product is being produced should also be taken care of as a social responsibility of the producing company. Product sustainability should focus on its economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Economic sustainability allows the product to flourish and compete favorably in the market.
End-of-life
The asset that is designed, manufactured, and introduced into the service ends when it exhausted its useful life in the product life cycle, which tells that any product has an end of life. Therefore, the key factors that would come into play when a product becomes obsolete and is taken out of service include recycled products. The initial technology used in designing the product can be improved in the new design when the useful life of the existing product is rendered obsolete. Some parts of the product can be recycled and used in other forms. The other factor is preventing wastage by reworking the HP shroud turbine components by downgrading to lighter system works (Wang, Feng, Zhang, & Guo, 2018). The parts can be used in unconventional milling machines or any other techniques that utilize the components of the product to ensure that there is no wastage of product. The technology used should not be left as waste. Furthermore, rotary ultrasound grinding or micro-machining can be used without fracturing the silicon carbide substrate in the manufacturing industry. The silicate carbide composites can also be recovered and used in lower value applications such as the friction surface as they are effective friction providers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the paper has looked at the design intent of the product as discussed during day 1 of the case study by critically assessing the design intent and future of the design intent in minimizing manufacturing cost. The paper has discussed the verification and validation process of the product in the digital information world. The document also looked at the service use of the product and the customer requirements in the market using the service introduction strategies. Finally, the paper has looked at the product’s end of life and the factors that come into play when a product is designed, manufactured, introduced into the market, become obsolete, and taken out of service. Future studies should focus more on the future innovation and creativity in the use of technology in designing, manufacturing, and introducing the product into the market.
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