Chromalloy expands turbofan blade output to serve aviation and data centre demand

Chromalloy has spent $100 million to widen its product range and increase production capacity, the privately held maker of non-original-equipment turbofan components said.

Its new plant in Oldsmar, Florida, covers 65,000sq ft. It was laid out around an electron-beam physical vapor deposition machine, a two-storey unit that applies a ceramic coating to high-pressure turbine blades. Built in Germany at a cost of $30 million, the machine uses electron-beam guns inside a vacuum chamber heated to about 1,040°C to vaporise yttrium-stabilised zirconium, which then accumulates on the blades. The coating is meant to keep them cooler as they rotate at up to 11,000rpm inside a turbofan engine.

Mike Zerbe, the company's vice-president of engineering, said only 15 to 20 comparable machines are in service producing turbofan blades.

The 75-year-old business, owned by investment firm Veritas Capital, supplies aftermarket blades for engines including the CFM International CFM56 and the International Aero Engines V2500. Chief executive Chris Celtruda said demand is running ahead of what the company can produce, describing a market in which output, not orders, is the limit.

Chromalloy is also courting a second customer base. Operators of AI data centres are looking for turbines derived from aeroengine technology to generate electricity, an area the company says complements its aviation work.

Celtruda pointed to the small number of firms able to manufacture these blades as a reason to expect sustained demand from the aviation aftermarket.