Failures of Turbine Components

This article focuses on common failures of the components associated with the flow path of industrial gas turbines. Examples of steam turbine blade failures are also discussed, because these components share some similarities with gas turbine blading. Some of the analytical methods used in the laboratory portion of the failure investigation are mentioned in the failure examples. The topics covered are creep, localized overheating, thermal-mechanical fatigue, high-cycle fatigue, fretting wear, erosive wear, high-temperature oxidation, hot corrosion, liquid metal embrittlement, and manufacturing and repair deficiencies.

Simulation and analysis of the solidification characteristics of a Si-Mo ductile iron

High silicon and molybdenum ductile cast irons (Si-Mo alloys) are commonly used as exhaust manifold materials suffering from high temperature-oxidation and thermal-mechanical fatigue. The structural integrity of cast Si-Mo alloys under these service conditions is attributed to their microstructure consisting of spheroidal graphite and Mo-rich carbide embedded in a ferritic matrix. However, the cast structure includes also pearlite structure having a detrimental effect on the mechanical properties, therefore the cast matrix needs to be heat treated. In this study, the solidification of a Si-Mo ductile iron was investigated using (i) thermodynamic and kinetic calculations by Thermo-Calc and DICTRA software and (ii) thermal analysis in order to reveal out the sequence of phase formation and the phase transformations during solidification and (iii) microanalysis by energy dispersive spectrometer in order to determine elemental segregation and compare with the calculated values. The solidified structure was also characterized and all microstructural features were specified.

Life Assessment of a Coke Drum by Using the Thermal-Mechanical Fatigue Properties and Laser Scanning Approach

Coke drums are critical equipments in delayed coking plants, which are operated under severe thermal-mechanical conditions by cyclic heating and quenching processes. Cracks are usually developed during service because of severe plastic deformation and low-cycle fatigue. Thus, the assessment of the deformation severity and remaining life is important for safety operating of the coke drums. This study investigated the bulging damage and fatigue life of 6 coke drums after 16 years and 22 years of service in China. A thermal-mechanical fatigue test were first performed to simulate complex loading condition experienced by the coke drum. The thermal-mechanical fatigue life curve of the fabrication material was obtained. Then, a internal laser scanning was employed to measure the deformation and bulges of drum shells. The finite element analysis was developed to calculate the cyclic stress and strain and bulging severity based on the laser mapping and operating conditions. The fatigue life of the coke drum was assessed by the Coffin-Manson-Basquin’s relationship. The life evaluation results of different methods were compared and analyzed. The results showed that a reasonable life of the coke drum can be obtained by using the thermal-mechanical fatigue properties and laser scanning approach.

Failure Analysis of Interconnection Fault in a PoP Module Applied for Mobile Phone

A typical early fault case of some mobile phones was studied in this paper. The failure phenomenon was manifested as that the mobile phones could not be powered on after one year in their service, with the malfunction rate having reached about 2% of the whole yield in the same manufacturing lot as the fault machines returned from client side continuously. The results of fault location showed that there was interconnection failure in the main chip module, which used package on package (PoP) packaging. A series of experimental technique was used for the failure analysis, such as 3D X-ray inspection, shadow moiré test, microsectioning, scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis, etc. The results showed that some solder joints' through cracking in the PoP module was the immediate cause of the mobile phones' malfunction, and the main reason for the cracking was thermal-mechanical fatigue with recrystallization microstructure degradation. It is important to further study on the technological method for controlling grain orientations in electronic interconnections.

Some Recent Advances on Thermal–Mechanical Fatigue Design and Upcoming Challenges for the Automotive Industry

Automotive industry faces numerous evolutions regarding environment regulations and parts reliability. Through the specific case of a cylinder head, actual and forthcoming challenges for low-cycle and thermal–mechanical fatigue design in an industrial context are presented. With a description of current design approaches and highlighting limitations, this work focuses on variable loadings, constitutive models and their interaction with the environment, fatigue criteria, and structure validations, the four major steps to meet a reliable design. The need to carry out extended experimental databases for different complexity levels is emphasized to provide a better understanding of loadings and their impact on the strength of materials and structures, as well as the production of more physically-based models that are easier to identify and lead to higher levels of reliability in the thermal–mechanical design process.