The carbon-titanium blades have been integrated into a Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine – normally used on the Boeing 787 – and installed on a Boeing 747-200 testbed in Arizona.
Rolls-Royce is developing the Advance engine for introduction in 2020 while the UltraFan would follow five years laterUsing the lighter blades along with a composite casing could trim some 680kg from the aircraft’s weight, the manufacturer claims.
Its high-bypass Advance engine is intended to slash fuel-burn by 20% and UltraFan will increase this saving to 25%.
The blades, which underwent ground crosswind testing in September, will be subjected to a series of flight tests.