The HIPSGEAR (scouting HIgh Performance Steels for GEARs and bearings) project supported the aims to demonstrate technologies for an Integral Drive System (IDS) engine concept. The gearbox system requirements, transferring power from the fan to the low-pressure turbine, led to the need of new innovative high strength materials for critical components in particular bearings and their integration with the surrounding components (e.g. gears).

The tasks and technical objectives are in particular:

• definition of new technologies to meet bearings and gears life and reliability requirements under the expected operation conditions and technology development steps;
• demonstration of the improvement of the new technologies through experimental tests for the bearings and gears life and wear resistance evaluation;
• demonstration through experimental tests for the applicability of the new technologies to gear materials to optimum bearing integration.

The activity was managed with a Phase & Gate approach and included detailed technical / program documentation, including planning, drawings, design report, risk analysis, test plan and test requirements, test results and test analysis reports.