Metallurgical Considerations for Life Assessment and the Safe Refurbishment and Re-Qualification of Gas Turbine Blades

Abstract

Metallurgical analysis of rotating blades operating in advanced gas turbine engines is important in establishing actual operating conditions, degradation modes, remaining life, and most importantly, the proper repair and rejuvenation techniques to be used in developing optimum component life strategics. The elevated firing temperatures used in the latest engine designs result not only in very high metal surface temperatures but also in very high temperature gradients and concomitant thermal strains induced in part by the complex and efficient cooling systems. This has changed the primary function of today’s superalloy-coating systems from one of hot corrosion protection to moderating high temperature oxidation reactions. Furthermore, as a result of the high thermal strains induced by the cooling systems, long term metallurgical structural stability issues now revolve around optimizing both thermal mechanical fatigue (TMF) resistance and creep life. Thus the gradual change to Directionally Solidified (DS) and Single Crystal (SC) alloys throughout the industry. The use of DS and SC alloys coated with state of the art TBC, platinum modified aluminide and MCrAlY coatings with or without subsequent aluminizing applied by vacuum plasma spray (VPS), high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF), physical vapor deposition (PVD), air plasma spray (APS) and by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods along with the wide spread use of internal aluminide coatings have made today’s rotating components prohibitively expensive to replace after only one cycle of operation. It is therefore, or should now be a high priority for all cost conscience gas turbine users to help develop reliable repair and rejuvenation strategies and techniques to minimize their operating cost. Traditional metallurgical considerations required for life assessment and the reliable refurbishment and re-qualification of gas turbine blades are reviewed along with some new exciting techniques. Examples of component degradation modes are presented. Appropriate attention to metallurgical issues allows turbine users to more successfully and economically operate their turbines.