Gas Turbine- Components and

Materials

Zeeshan Asif Awan

1
 Overview
• Brayton Cycle
• Gas Turbine Designation System
• Components
– Axial Compressor
– Combustor
– Axial Turbine
• Turbine Blade Cooling Techniques
• Materials
– Bucket Materials
– Nozzle Materials
– Coating Materials
– Liner Materials
– Turbine and Compressor Wheel Materials
– Compressor Blade Materials
• Associated Problems
– Compressor Surge
– Compressor Choke
– Hot Corrosion
– Internal oxidation of coatings
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Brayton Cycle

3
• ISO-rated power: The continuous power developed by the
gas turbine when it is operated at ISO-rated firing
temperature and speed under the following standard
operating conditions
– Inlet temperature 15°C (59°F)
– Inlet (total) pressure 1.0133 bar (14.696 psia)
– Inlet relative humidity 60 percent
– Exhaust (static) pressure 1.0133 bar (14.696 psia)
• ISO-rated firing temperature: The vendor’s rated
(calculated) turbine inlet total temperature, immediately
upstream of the first stage turbine nozzles, for continuous
service at ISO-rated power output.

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Gas Turbine Designation System- GE

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6
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Engine Pressure Ratio over the years

Firing Temperature over the years

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 Gas Turbine Components
Compressor
For Animation
(Within Office Premises Only)
• Type Used
– Axial (For almost all GTs above 5MW)
– Centrifugal (Seldom used)
• For industrial turbines, pressure ratios are between 17:1 to
35:1

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 Major Gas Turbine Components
Axial Compressor
• Axial Compressors first accelerates the fluid (rotor) and then diffuses it
(stator) to obtain a pressure increase
• Rotor followed by stator make up a stage in the compressor
• Air passes from one stage to the next, each stage raising the pressure
slightly on the order of 1.1:1 to 1.4:1
• Consumes 55-65% power produced by turbine
• The degree of reaction in an axial-flow compressor is defined as the ratio
of the change of static head in the rotor to the head generated in the
stage

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 Major Gas Turbine Components
Combustor

• 10% air is used in combustion process

• Incoming air velocity 122-183 m/s, reduced below 15.2 m/s to avoid flame
carryover to downstream.
• For industrial turbines, inlet temperature ranges from 454 to 649oC
• Zones of Combustor
– Burning Zone: Fuel is combusted here
– Recirculation Zone: Evaporates the fuel
– preparing it for rapid combustion
– Dilution Zone: Dilution air is
introduced

Or Burning Zone

Recirculation
Zone 11
 Major Gas Turbine Components
Combustor Types

Reverse flow can annular combustor

Tubo-annular combustion chamber

for aircraft-type gas turbines

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 Major Gas Turbine Components
Combustor

Side Combustor

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External Combustor Annular Combustion Chamber
 Major Gas Turbine Components
Turbine
• Type Used
– Axial (in 95% of applications)
• Impulse
• Reaction
– Radial Inflow (Seldom used, where length of system is to be reduced)
• The degree of reaction in an axial-flow turbine is the ratio of change in the
static enthalpy to the change in total enthalpy
• Usually the first stage is impulse, and the later stages are 50% reaction

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Axial Flow Turbine Flow Characteristics
 Blade Cooling Techniques
• Since 1950, turbine bucket material temperature capability has advanced
approximately 850 ◦F (472 ◦C)
• Increase of 100 ◦F (56 ◦C) in turbine firing temperature can provide a
corresponding increase of 8–13% in output and 2–4% improvement in simple-cycle
efficiency
• Cooling air is bled from the compressor and is directed to the stator, the rotor, and
other parts of the turbine rotor and casing to provide adequate cooling
• The concepts underlying air cooling schemes are

Blade Cooling
Techniques Details
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 Improvement in Firing Temperatures

• Increases in blade alloy temperature capability accounted for the majority of

the firing temperature

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Gas Turbine Materials

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 Bucket Material
• Stage 1 bucket material has been the limiting
component of the machine
• Gas turbine bucket alloys are vacuum cast, nickel-
base superalloys that are strengthened through
solution and precipitation-hardening heat
treatments
• Creep life, high- and low-cycle fatigue,thermal
fatigue, tensile strength and ductility, impact
strength, hot corrosion, oxidation resistance,
producibility and coatability are the desired
properties

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 Bucket Material – U 500
• Used for stage 1 buckets in the mid-1960s
• This alloy is a precipitation- hardened , nickel-base
alloy
• It is currently being applied to the latter stages of
buckets in some gas turbines.

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 Bucket Material - IN 738
• Developed by the International Nickel
Company,
• The stage 1 bucket material of choice between
1971 and 1984
• Nowadays used as 2nd stage bucket materials

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 Bucket Material - Equiaxed GTD 111
• Developed and patented by GE in the mid-1970s.
• Possesses about a 35°F/20°C improvement in rupture
strength in the equiaxed form, compared to IN-738
• Corrosion resistance comparable to IN-738
• Initially used for 1st stage of turbines
• Equiaxed GTD- 111 is now being used in the larger,
latter-stage buckets

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 Bucket Material - DS GTD 111
• Currently used as stage 1 bucket material for 6FA, 7FA and 9FA
turbines, and on the 6B, 9EC, 7EA and on the 5/2C and D and
3/2J uprated turbines
• Also being applied to stage 2 and stage 3 buckets of the 7FA
and 9FA gas turbines

• Efforts are now focusing on single-crystal processing which

eliminates all grain boundaries and associated grain boundary
strengthening additives

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 Nozzle materials
• Stage 1 nozzles or stationary vanes are subjected
to the hottest gas temperatures in the turbine
• Face lower mechanical stresses than the buckets
• Required to have excellent high-temperature
oxidation and corrosion resistance, high
resistance to thermal fatigue, relatively good
weldability for ease of manufacture and repair,
and good castability

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 Nozzle materials- N 155
• Also refered to as multimet
• Iron based alloy
• Possess good weldability
• Used in latter stage nozzels

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 Nozzle materials- GTD 222
• Nickel-based nozzle alloy
• Developed in response to the need for
improved creep strength in stage 2 and stage
3 nozzles.
• Offers an improvement of more than
150°F/66°C creep strength compared to FSX-
414 and is weld repairable
• Enhanced low-temperature hot corrosion
resistance
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 Nozzle materials- FSX 414
• Developed by GE
• Currently used for 1st stage nozzles and some
latter-stage nozzles
• Cobalt based alloy for superior strength at
very high temperatures
• Two- to three-fold increase in oxidation
resistance compared to X-40 and X-45 and
consequently an increase in the firing
temperatures of approximately 100°F/56°C
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 Coating Materials
• Used where the temperatures of the components exceed the inherent
oxidation resistance of the material
• Some common high temperature coating materials and their endurance is
as follows

• Low temperature coating materials used in latter stages of turbine are

– Diffused Chromide Coating
– PLASMA-GUARD GT-43
• EXTEND-COAT is coatings for bucket refurbishment and is applied by GE
qualified service centres
• PLASMAGUARD™ coatings are applied by the Vacuum Plasma Spray (VPS)28
 Combustion Liner Materials
• Initially in 1950s AISI 309ss was
used
• Hastelloy-X and RA-333 were
introduced in 60s which are both
nickle based alloys
• In 1908s Nimonic-263 was
introduced. It is is a precipitation-
strengthened, nickel-base alloy
with higher strength capability
than Hastelloy-X

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 Turbine and Compressor Wheel Materials

• Turbine wheels, distance pieces,

Spacers and stub shafts are forged in
following sequence
– Melted under controlled conditions
– Open or closed die casted
– Quenched and tempered
• Steel (1% Cr - 1.25% Mo - 0.25% V)
wheels are used at lower firing
temperatures , lower compressor
• For higher firing temperature Nickle
based Alloy 706 is used

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 Compressor Blade Material
• Blades may be forged, extruded or machined
• Made fromType 403 or 403 Cb (both 12 Cr) stainless steels
• GTD-450, a precipitation hardened, martensitic stainless steel, was
introduced into production for advanced and uprated machines
– increased tensile strength without sacrificing stress corrosion
resistance
– increases in the high-cycle fatigue
– Superior corrosion resistance due to its higher concentration of
chromium and molybdenum
• NiCd coating was earlier used on
blades for corrosion resistance from
moisture
• GECC-1 is now used which is GE
developed and patented aluminum
slurry coating

32
 Hot Corrosion
• Hot corrosion is a rapid form of attack that is generally associated with
alkali metal contaminants, such as sodium and potassium, reacting with
sulfur in the fuel to form molten sulfates
• Two types of Hot Corrosion are
– High-temperature: Extremely rapid form of oxidation that takes place at
temperatures between 1500°F/816°C and 1700°F/927°C in the presence of
sodium sulfate (Na2SO4)
– Low-temperature: It takes place at temperatures in the 1100°F/593°C to
1400°F/760°C range and requires a significant partial pressure of SO2.
• Can be avoided by
– Reducing contaminants
– Using corrosion resistant materials
– Applying coatings

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 Internal Oxidation of Coatings

• Rapid oxidation attack occurs at T>899C

• Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) acts as oxidation barrier barrier
• Insufficient aluminum available in the coating to maintain a protective oxide at
the surface
• Oxygen may diffuse into the surface of coating
• This phenomenon renders the coating non protective 34
Gas Turbine Inspection

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Boroscopic Inspection

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Boroscopic Inspection

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Causes of Potential Failure of Gas Path

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 Stand-by Inspection

• They are required when the engine is not in operation. During this period
of time, the following items should be checked
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

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Running Inspection

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Combustion Inspection

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Combustion Inspection

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Combustion Inspection

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Combustion Inspection

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Hot Gas Path Inspection

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Hot Gas Path Inspection

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Hot Gas Path Inspection

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Major inspection

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 Compressor Surge
• Surge has been traditionally defined as the lower limit of
stable operation in a compressor, and it involves the
reversal of flow
• A decrease in the mass flow rate, an increase in the
rotational speed of the impeller, or both can cause the
compressor to surge
• Compressors usually are operated at a working line,
separated by some safety margin from the surge line
• Operating at higher efficiency implies operation closer to
surge
• Operation in surge and, often, near surge is
accompanied by several indications, including
– general and pulsating noise level increases
– axial shaft position changes
– discharge temperature excursions
– compressor differential pressure fluctuations
– lateral vibration amplitude increases
• Severe aerodynamic stimulation at one of the blade
natural response frequencies is caused, leading to blade
failure
• Surge margin (SM) is defined as
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 Compressor Choke
• The compressor choke point is when the flow
in the compressor reaches Mach 1 at the
blade throat
• A point where no more flow can pass through
the compressor

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 References
For References
(Within Office Premises Only)

• Gas Turbine Engineering Hanbook

M.P. Boyce

• Advanced Gas Turbine Materials and Coatings

GE Energy

• Gas Turbine Performance Characteristics

GE Power

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Thankyou

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Backup Slides

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 Turbine Blade Cooling
Convection and impingement Cooling

• Midchord section that is convection-cooled

through horizontal fins
• Leading edge that is impingement cooled
• Coolant is discharged through a split trailing
edge
• Air flows up the central cavity formed by
the strut insert and through holes at the
leading edge of the insert to impingement
cool the blade leading edge

Back to
Main Slides 54
 Turbine Blade Cooling
Convection and impingement Cooling

• Midchord section that is convection-

cooled through horizontal fins
• Leading edges are both convection
and film-cooled
• Coolant is discharged through a split
trailing edge

Back to
Main Slides 55
 Turbine Blade Cooling
Transpiration Cooling

• The shell attached to the strut is of wire from porous

material
• The shell material is cooled by a combination of
convection and film cooling
• Process is effective due to the infinite number of
pores on the blade surface
• Air flows up the central cavity formed by the strut
insert and through holes at the leading edge of the
insert to impingement cool the blade leading edge
• Since oxidation will close the pores, causing uneven
cooling and high thermal stresses, the possibility of
blade failure exists

Back to
Main Slides 56
 Turbine Blade Cooling
Multiple Hole Cooling

• Primary cooling is achieved by film cooling with cold

air injected through small holes over the airfoil
surface
• Holes are considerably larger than holes formed with
porous mesh for transpiration
• They are less susceptible to clogging by oxidation
• This design has the highest creep life next to a
transpiration-cooled design, and it has the best strain
distribution between leading and trailing edges

Back to
Main Slides 57
 Turbine Blade Cooling
Steam/Water Cooling

• A number of tubes embedded inside the

turbine blade to provide channels for the water
• Tubes are usually made of copper
• The steam is extracted from the exit of the HP
Steam Turbine in combined cycles
• Steam is heated while passing through blades
and blade temperature decreases
• Water cooling scheme is experimental

Back to
Main Slides 58