Cascade Testing of Ceramic Vanes for Industrial Gas Turbines
The development of uncooled ceramic vanes for a 20MW class gas turbine with the firing temperature of 1300°C is progressing. The 1st stage ceramic vanes were made of sintered SiC or sintered Si3N4, and the 2nd stage ceramic vanes were made of sintered Si3N4. These vanes were tested by means of hot and high pressure cascade testing simulating actual gas turbines operation. After minor modifications, we have succeeded in developing sound ceramic vanes which are durable against high thermal stress which occurs during the transient of trip (emergency shutdowns or fuel tripouts), and obtained great results for the practical application. In this paper, details of the ceramic vanes’ structure and cascade testing are described and the results of the tests are discussed.