High temperature solid lubricant requirements for advanced high performance gas turbine engines

1990 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. PEZZELLA ◽  
PAUL WARNER
Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4214
Author(s):  
Kranthi Kumar Maniam ◽  
Shiladitya Paul

The increased demand for high performance gas turbine engines has resulted in a continuous search for new base materials and coatings. With the significant developments in nickel-based superalloys, the quest for developments related to thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems is increasing rapidly and is considered a key area of research. Of key importance are the processing routes that can provide the required coating properties when applied on engine components with complex shapes, such as turbine vanes, blades, etc. Despite significant research and development in the coating systems, the scope of electrodeposition as a potential alternative to the conventional methods of producing bond coats has only been realised to a limited extent. Additionally, their effectiveness in prolonging the alloys’ lifetime is not well understood. This review summarises the work on electrodeposition as a coating development method for application in high temperature alloys for gas turbine engines and discusses the progress in the coatings that combine electrodeposition and other processes to achieve desired bond coats. The overall aim of this review is to emphasise the role of electrodeposition as a potential cost-effective alternative to produce bond coats. Besides, the developments in the electrodeposition of aluminium from ionic liquids for potential applications in gas turbines and the nuclear sector, as well as cost considerations and future challenges, are reviewed with the crucial raw materials’ current and future savings scenarios in mind.


Author(s):  
J. M. Lane

While the radial in-flow turbine has consistently demonstrated its capability as a high-performance component for small gas turbine engines, its use has been relegated to lower turbine-inlet-temperature cycles due to insurmountable problems with respect to the manufacturing of radial turbine rotors with internal cooling passages. These cycle temperature limitations are not consistent with modern trends toward higher-performance, fuel-conservative engines. This paper presents the results of several Army-sponsored programs, the first of which addresses the performance potential for the high-temperature radial turbine. The subsequent discussion presents the results of two successful programs dedicated to developing fabrication techniques for internally cooled radial turbines, including mechanical integrity testing. Finally, future near-term capabilities are projected.


Author(s):  
Hooshang Heshmat ◽  
James F. Walton

Abstract To achieve high power density Gas Turbine Engines (GTEs), R&D efforts have strived to develop machines that spin faster and run hotter. One method to achieve that goal is to use high temperature capable foil bearings. In order to successfully integrate these advanced foil bearings into GTE systems, a theoretical understanding of both bearing and rotor system integration is essential. Without a fundamental understanding and sound theoretical modeling of the foil bearing coupled with the rotating system such an approach would prove application efforts fruitless. It is hoped that the information provided in this paper will open up opportunistic doors to designs presently thought to be impossible. In this paper an attempt is made to describe how an advanced foil bearing is modeled for extreme high temperature operation in high performance turbomachinery including GTEs, Supercritical CO2 turbine generators and others. The authors present the advances in foil bearing capabilities that were crucial to achieving high temperature operation. Achieving high performance in a compliant foil bearing under the wide extremes of operating temperatures, pressures and speeds, requires a bearing system design approach that accounts for the highly interrelated compliant surface foil bearing elements such as: the structural stiffness and frictional characteristics of the underlying compliant support structure across the operating temperature and pressure spectrum; and the coupled interaction of the structural elements with the hydrodynamic pressure generation. This coupled elasto-hydrodynamic-Finite Element highly non-linear iterative methodology will be used by the authors to present a series of foil bearing design evaluations analyzing and modeling the foil bearing under extreme conditions. The complexity of the problem of achieving foil bearing system operation beyond 870°C (1600°F) requires as a prerequisite the attention to the tribological details of the foil bearing. For example, it is necessary to establish how both the frictional and viscous damping coefficient elements as well as the structural and hydrodynamic stiffness are to be combined. By combining these characteristics the influence of frictional coefficients of the elastic and an-elastic materials on bearing structural stiffness and hence the bearing effective coupled elasto-hydrodynamic stiffness coefficients will be shown. Given that the bearing dynamic parameters — stiffness and damping coefficients — play a major role in the control of system dynamics, the design approach to successfully integrate compliant foil bearings into complex rotating machinery systems operating in extreme environments is explored by investigating the effects of these types of conditions on rotor-bearing system dynamics. The proposed rotor/bearing model is presented to describe how system dynamics and bearing structural properties and operating characteristics are inextricably linked together in a manner that results in a series separate but intertwined iterative solutions. Finally, the advanced foil bearing modeling and formulation in connection with resulting rotor dynamics of the system will be carried out for an experimental GTE simulator test rig. The analytical results will be compared with the experiments as presented previously to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed method in a real world application [1].


Author(s):  
David A. Shifler

High temperature applications demand materials that have a variety of properties such as high strength, toughness, creep resistance, fatigue resistance, as well as resistance to degradation by their interaction with the environment. All potential metallic materials are unstable in many high temperatures environments without the presence of a protective coating on the component surface. High temperature alloys derive their resistance to degradation by forming and maintaining a continuous protective oxide surface layer that is slow-growing, very stable, and adherent. In aggressive environments, the superalloy oxidation and corrosion resistance needs to be augmented by coatings. Propulsion materials for Naval shipboard gas turbine engines are subjected to the corrosive environment of the sea to differing degrees. Increasing fuel efficiency and platform capabilities require higher operating temperatures that may lead to new degradation modes of coatings and materials. Fuel contaminants or the lack of contaminants from alternative synthetic fuels may also strongly influence coating and/or materials performance which, in turn, can adversely affect the life in these propulsion or auxiliary gas turbine engines. This paper will dwell on some past results of materials testing and offer some views on future directions into materials research in high temperature materials in aggressive environments that will lead to new advanced propulsion materials for shipboard applications.


Author(s):  
David A. Shifler ◽  
Dennis M. Russom ◽  
Bruce E. Rodman

501-K34 marine gas turbine engines serve as auxiliary power sources for the U.S. Navy’s DDG-51 Class. It is desired that 501-K34 marine gas turbine engines have a mean time between removal of 20K hours. While some engines have approached this goal, others have fallen significantly short. A primary reason for this shortfall is hot corrosion (Type I and Type II) damage in the turbine area (more specifically the first row turbine hardware) due to both intrusion of salts from the marine air and from sulfur in the gas turbine combustion fuel. The Navy’s technical community recognizes that engine corrosion problems are complex in nature and are often tied to the design of the overall system. For this reason, two working groups were formed. One group focuses on the overall ship system design and operation, including the inlet and fuel systems. The second, the corrosion issues working group, will review the design and performance of the turbine itself and develop sound, practical, economical, and executable changes to engine design that will make it more robust and durable in the shipboard operating environment. Metallographic examination of unfailed blades removed from a marine gas turbine engine with 18000 operating hours showed that the coating thickness under the platform and in the curved area of transition between the platform to the blade stem was either very thin, or in a few cases, non-existent on each unfailed blade. Type II hot corrosion was evident at these locations under the platform. It was also observed that this corrosion under the platform led to corrosion fatigue cracking of first stage turbine blades due to poor coating quality (high porosity and variable thickness). Corrosion fatigue cracks initiated at several hot corrosion sites and had advanced through the stems to varying degrees. Cracking in a few blades had advanced to the point that would have led to premature blade failure. Low velocity, atmospheric-pressure burner-rig (LVBR) tests were conducted for 1000 hours to evaluate several alternative high-temperature coatings in both Type I and Type II hot corrosion environments. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) report the results of the hot corrosion performance of alternative high temperature coating systems for under the platform of the 1st stage blade of 501-K34 gas turbine engine, (2) compare the performance of these alternative coating systems to the current baseline 1st stage blade coating, and (3) down select the best performing coating systems (in terms of their LVBR hot corrosion and thermal cycling resistance) to implement on future 501-K34 first stage blades for the Fleet.


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