Exploration of High Entropy Alloys for Turbine Applications
- QuesTek Innovations LLC
The efficiency of energy production from industrial gas turbines (IGT) is dependent on operating temperature, with efficiency increasing with temperature. A limiting factor on the operating temperature is the extreme environment experienced by the IGT blade, which must withstand large stresses at temperatures nearing the melting point of the base alloy. Turbine blades are composed of Ni-based superalloys, broadly consisting of a bulk γ/γ’ microstructure and a B2 surface bond coat. There are two primary materials properties of these blade alloys that must be improved to allow higher IGT operating temperature: (1) improved high-temperature stability and (2) higher strength sustainable to higher temperature. As increases in Ni-based superalloy melting temperatures have slowed, there is a need for novel materials systems capable of exhibiting significant improvements in turbine performance. High entropy alloys (HEA) are a recently discovered class of materials that consist of a single-phase disordered solid solution of five or more components. HEAs are stabilized by their configurational entropy, which increases with temperature, and have exhibited high strength and low plasticity at elevated temperatures. For these reasons, HEAs, particularly those containing refractory elements, have the potential to surpass Ni-based superalloy performance in turbine blade applications. Since the composition space of HEAs is large, the complex phase equilibria surrounding HEAs (which determines the high-temperature stability of the alloy) is generally unexplored. Therefore, the use of modeling is required to find and optimize potential IGT HEA systems.
- Research Organization:
- QuesTek Innovations, LLC, Evanston, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- Contributing Organization:
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0013220
- OSTI ID:
- 1476974
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase II)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-QT-13220
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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