The Rolls-Royce wide-chord fan blade

The hollow, titanium wide-chord fan blade, pioneered by Rolls-Royce and introduced into airline service in the 1980s, set new standards in aerodynamic efficiency and resistance to foreign object damage.

Designed specifically for high-bypass turbofans, the breadth of these blades sets them apart from the narrow and less efficient equivalents of earlier times.

Rolls-Royce wide-chord blades are made at the company's Barnoldswick facility in the north of England which is a centre of excellence for this specialist component.

The wide-chord blade is made from three layers of titanium which are bonded together after being heated to a superplastic state, the metal "sandwich" then being inflated with gas. In earlier versions of wide-chord blades this resulted in a honeycomb centre being formed. More recent developments produced a girder structure at the centre of the blade. In both cases the blades are exceptionally strong, durable and lightweight.

The smallest wide-chord blade (a solid titanium version) is used on the Rolls-Royce Tay. Hollow wide-chord fans are used on the V2500, later versions of the RB211-535 and RB211-524, and on all Trent engines.

The latest design innovation is a scimitar-shaped "swept" blade which will be used in production engines for the first time when the Trent 900 enters service on the Airbus A380 superjumbo in 2007.