Titanium blade from an aircraft engine

A blade from an aircraft engine: a twisted aerofoil — curved suction side, flatter pressure side, chamfered tip. The two photos show the same piece from both ends: once the round bearing bore with a collar, once the guide trunnion at the opposite end.

Bore and trunnion are the pivot bearings of one and the same axis: blades like these sit in the compressor as variable stator vanes — the actuating lever engages the bore at the top, the trunnion runs in its bearing below. The angle is adjusted in operation so the flow stays attached across the whole speed range. Fixed rotor blades have a dovetail or fir-tree root instead — visible on the turbine blade from the hot section, also in this shop.

According to the previous owner titanium or a titanium alloy — the usual choice in the compressor, being light and staying strong at those temperatures. No material test exists; the statement is passed on exactly as it reached me.

Engine type and aircraft are not documented, and no stamped numbers can be made out in the photos. Anyone examining the ends under light may find part numbers — that would narrow down the origin.

Sold expressly as a collector's, display and decorative object. No check for technical serviceability, and nothing to be fitted to anything that flies.

• One blade from an aircraft engine
• Variable stator vane (bore and trunnion as pivots)
• Titanium or titanium alloy per previous owner, untested
• Engine type not documented

Used, with marks from service and age: fine scratches and heat tint on the aerofoil, edges intact, no cracks apparent.