Enhanced Erosion Protection for Rotor Blades

The deployment of rotorcraft to desert locations in southwest Asia has resulted in a significant increase in maintenance cost due to sand erosion. In these extreme environmental conditions, existing rotor blade erosion protection systems, typically metallic leading edges, are being replaced more frequently, resulting in costly repairs, lower sortie rates, and abbreviated blade life. Through previous efforts, Hontek Corporation has developed a sprayable erosion protective coating that has been validated in a field trial on two Black Hawk helicopters deployed to southwest Asia. This paper discusses the requirements definition process used to investigate the effects of the Hontek coating material on blade dynamics, ice protection, and lightning strike protection in a rotary-wing operating environment. Latest test results and status of its evaluation on a Bell rotorcraft will be discussed.