US Patent 11939886 Aircraft engine having stator vanes made of different materials

An aircraft engine, has: an upstream stator having upstream stator vanes circumferentially distributed about a central axis; and a downstream stator having downstream stator vanes circumferentially distributed about the central axis, the downstream stator located downstream of the upstream stator relative to an airflow flowing within a core gaspath of the aircraft engine, a number of the upstream stator vanes being different than a number of the downstream stator vanes, the downstream stator vanes including: a first vane made of a first material, a major portion of a leading edge of the first vane circumferentially overlapped by one of the upstream stator vanes, and a second vane made of a second material having a greater stiffness, strength, and/or ductility than that of the first material, a major portion of a leading edge of the second vane exposed via a spacing defined between two of the upstream stator vanes.