Gas turbine blade life assessment and repair guide

Technical Report · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5499210

Swaminathan, V P; Lowden, P ^[1]

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1. Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (USA)

Combustion turbine hot section rotating blades are fabricated from nickel-base superalloys and operate at high temperatures. Both metallurgical and mechanical property degradation of the blading material occurs during service which can limit the useful service life of blades. It is important to assess the condition of blades periodically and remaining life estimated to provide guidelines for replacement or reconditioning of the blades. Sections 1 through 7 of this report present the necessary background for the user of this guidebook to understand the various aspects of the superalloys. Sections 8 and 9 provide step-by-step guidelines for remaining life assessment, repair and refurbishment of blades. Initially, this report provides a background on the metallurgy of the superalloys and how service aging changes the microstructural features and adversely affect the mechanical properties. A thorough review of methodologies available in the literature to estimate the life of blades under foreign object damage, creep and thermal-mechanical fatigue conditions is presented in the next section. How engine operating conditions affect blade life and the various destructive and non- destructive testing methods to evaluate the condition of blades are discussed next. Various repair and refurbishment procedures available to restore service damaged blades are then presented. Finally, general guidelines are presented for blade life assessment and for repair and refurbishment of service-run blades. 94 refs., 87 figs., 6 tabs.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (USA); Liburdi Engineering Ltd., Hamilton, ON (Canada)
• Sponsoring Organization: EPRI
• OSTI ID: 5499210
• Report Number(s): EPRI-GS-6544
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200104* -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Components
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360103 -- Metals & Alloys-- Mechanical Properties
360105 -- Metals & Alloys-- Corrosion & Erosion
AGING
ALLOYS
CARBIDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CORROSION
CORROSION RESISTANCE
CREEP
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
GAS TURBINES
HEAT TREATMENTS
INCONEL ALLOYS
MACHINERY
MAINTENANCE
MATERIALS TESTING
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MICROSTRUCTURE
NICKEL ALLOYS
NICKEL BASE ALLOYS
PRECIPITATION
REPAIR
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SERVICE LIFE
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TESTING
TURBINE BLADES
TURBINES
TURBOMACHINERY