Gas turbine blades and vanes in modern gas turbines are subjected to an extremely hostile environment. As such, sophisticated airfoil designs and advanced materials have been developed to meet stringent demands and at the same time, ensure increased performance. Despite the evolution of long-life airfoils, damage still occurs during service thus limiting the useful life of these components. Effective repair of after-service components provides life-cycle cost reduction of engines, and as well, contributes to the preservation of rare elements heavily used in modern superalloys. Among these methods developed in the last four decades for the refurbishment and joining of superalloy components, wide gap brazing (WGB) technology has been increasingly used in the field owing to its ability to repair difficult to weld alloys, to build up substantially damaged areas in one operation, and to provide unlimited compositional choices to enhance the properties of the repaired region. In this paper, the historical development of wide gap repair technology currently used in industry is reviewed. The microstructures and mechanical properties of different WGB joints are compared and discussed. Subsequently, different WGB processes employed at major OEMs are summarized. To conclude this review, future developments in WGB repair of newer generations of superalloys are explored.
Diffusion brazing is a joining process utilized in the manufacture and repair of turbine blades and vanes. MAR-M247 is an investment cast Ni-based superalloy used for turbine blading and has good strength properties at high temperatures. The objectives of this work was to develop a diffusion brazing procedure to achieve high strength joints. A commercially available diffusion brazing filler metal of composition Ni-15Cr-3,5B of 100 μm thickness was used. With the desire to eliminate brittle centre-line phases, the effects of the processing variables (only temperature and time) on the joint microstructure was studied. Once the metallurgy of the joint was understood, mechanical property assessments were undertaken i.e. tensile and creep rupture tests, and the latter being the severest test to evaluate joint strength. The results demonstrated that the diffusion brazed joints had nearly equivalent mechanical strength to that of the parent metal. This showed that the resultant diffusion brazing parameters enabled effective and reliable joining of MAR-M247.
The thermal processing of turbine engine components is a critical step in the repair and rejuvenation of turbine section hardware to ensure optimal performance and reliability. In the repair process, the thermal process regime must meet the following requirements; improving the weldability of the alloy prior to the repair process (if necessary), returning the microstructure of the alloy to a solutioned state prior to precipitation hardening the alloy, and an aging cycle in order to achieve optimal mechanical properties for the alloy. This paper will focus on the criticality of each step and discuss the typical mechanical properties seen after engine service and the repair process. We will show the importance of these steps and how they will ultimately effect the repair of the hot section component. For almost three decades, gas turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) have cast high-pressure turbine blades/buckets from In738 Ni-base superalloys. Although significant turbine experience has been gained in the use of this material, little or no standardization of repair heat treatments has been established in the industry. Currently OEM’s and component repair shops utilize a variety of refurbishment heat treatments, all targeted at achieving maximum restoration of mechanical properties and base metal microstructure. This paper also summarizes the results of stress rupture testing of service-run material both before and after six different rejuvenation heat treatments. Microstructures in the service-run and heat-treated conditions are also characterized.
Both aviation and land based turbine components such as vanes/nozzles, combustion chambers, liners, and transition pieces often degrade and crack in service. Rather than replacing with new components, innovative repairs can help reduce overhaul and maintenance costs. These components are cast from either Co-based solid solution superalloys such as FSX-414 or Ni-based gamma prime precipitation strengthened superalloys such as IN738. The nominal compositions of FSX-414 and IN738 are Co–29.5Cr–10.5Ni–7W–2Fe [max]–0.25C–0.012B and Ni–0.001B–0.17C–8.5Co–16Cr–1.7Mo–3.4Al–2.6W–1.7Ta–2Nb–3.4Ti–0.1Zr, respectively. Diffusion brazing has been used for over 4 decades to repair cracks and degradation on these types of components. Typically, braze materials utilized for component repairs are Ni- and Co-based braze fillers containing B and/or Si as melting point depressants. Especially when repairing wide cracks typically found on industrial gas turbine components, these melting point depressants can form brittle intermetallic boride and silicide phases that affect mechanical properties such as low cycle and thermal fatigue. The objective of this work is to investigate and evaluate the use of hypereutectic Ni–Cr–Hf and Ni–Cr–Zr braze filler metals, where the melting point depressant is no longer B, but Hf and/or Zr. Typically, with joint gaps or crack widths less than 0.15 mm, the braze filler metal alone can be utilized. For cracks greater than 0.15 mm, a superalloy powder is mixed with the braze filler metal to enable wide cracks to be successfully brazed repaired. As a means of qualifying the diffusion braze repair, both metallurgical and mechanical property evaluations were carried out. The metallurgical evaluation consisted of optical and scanning electron microscopies, and microprobe analysis. The diffusion brazed area consisted of a fine-grained equiaxed structure with carbide phases, gamma (γ) dendrites, flower shaped/rosette gamma-gamma prime (γ-γ′) eutectic phases, and Ni7Hf2, Ni5HF, or Ni5Zr intermetallic phases dispersed both intergranularly and intragranularly. Hardness tests showed that the Ni–Hf and Ni–Zr intermetallic phase only has a hardness range of 250–400 HV, whereas, the typical Cr-boride phases have hardness ranges from 800 HV to 1000 HV. Therefore the hardness values of the Ni–Hf and Ni–Zr intermetallic phases are 2.5–3.2 times softer than the Cr-boride intermetallic phases. As a result the low cycle fatigue (LCF) properties of the wide gap Ni–Cr–Hf and Ni–Cr–Zr brazed joints are superior to those of the Ni–Cr–B braze filler metals. The mechanical property evaluations were tensile tests at both room temperature and elevated temperature, stress rupture test from 760°C to 1093°C, and finally LCF tests, the latter being one of the most important and severe tests to conduct since the cracks being repaired are thermal fatigue driven. At the optimum braze thermal cycle, the mechanical test results achieved were a minimum of 80% and sometimes equivalent to that of the base metal properties.
Volatile market dynamics in the electrical power generation field continues to force power companies to identify prudent material cost reductions opportunities in their Operations and Maintenance (O&M) business. Today, there is an industry-recognized need for advanced hot gas path component repair and reconditioning capability for operators of F-Class gas turbines that can be highly cost effective with short cycle times. The SGT6-5000F (W501FD) engine, an “F” class machine has been in operation for more than a decade now. Of importance to operators/users and owners of this gas turbine engine is the ability to recondition the turbine “hot-end section” components, in order to support maintenance requirements. The first 2 rows of blades are unshrouded; whereas the last 2 rows are shrouded. The row 1 blades show severe degradation and thus repair of this component has been a focus point for PSM. The technical objective is to develop repair schemes for the row 1 blades since this component (other than the Transition Piece (TP)) has the highest frequency of replacement, plus is the highest replacement cost per component. Special processes have been developed for these components repairs, including but not limited to: a) Acid stripping of the coating; b) Machining off of the original brazed tip cap plates; c) High frequency gas tungsten arc welding and vacuum diffusion braze repair of platform cracks; d) High frequency gas tungsten arc weld attachment or laser welding of new tip cap plates; e) Laser metal forming/cladding of new squealer tips; f) Rejuvenation heat treatment; g) Application of superior MCrAlY and TBC coating to that originally applied. This technical paper describes the repair process development and implementation of the different stages of the repair schemes, and shows metallurgical and mechanical characteristics of the repaired regions of the component.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.