The PD-14 engine, developed by the United Engine Corporation (ODK, part of Rostec), weighs less than imported counterparts thanks to special critical technologies, Rostec reported. One of them is diffusion welding combined with superplastic forming in the manufacture of titanium fan blades.
In diffusion welding, metal is joined at the atomic level under pressure and high temperature, but without melting. Titanium sheets grow together into a monolith only at specified points along the contour of the part. Then, with strong heating, the metal briefly becomes superplastic, and gas is supplied into the internal cavity of the blank under high pressure. The central part of the future blade "inflates" and takes on a complex aerodynamic shape.
The method allowed reducing the weight of the titanium fan blade by almost half, while fully retaining the ability to withstand extreme loads. The PD-14 engine has 18 such blades, and reducing the mass of this element leads to a significant reduction in the weight of the entire aircraft. The solution has already been implemented in ODK's serial production. The PD-14 engine was created for the MS-21-310 passenger aircraft, which is undergoing certification tests.
PD-14 blade technology in editorial materials
"Pervy Tekhnichesky" wrote about the development of 16 innovative technologies for the PD-14, among which superplastic forming and diffusion welding were named. It was noted then that they were applied for the first time in Russia in an aircraft engine for a passenger aircraft. Earlier, in a material about reducing PD-14 costs, it was mentioned that hollow titanium fan blades are simultaneously lighter than traditional ones and withstand high loads. In addition, in February 2025, we reported on the delivery of a batch of serial PD-14s for the MS-21, which also mentioned the use of hollow titanium blades.
Read more on the topic:
- New Engineers Being Trained for PD-35 and PD-14 Engines
- India was not satisfied with the "Superjet": Russia will have to think about the PD-10 engine
- Perm's Cunning Move: PD-14 Yields to PW1400G and LEAP-1A in Fan Size