1. Ceramic Gas Turbine Materials Impact Evaluation
- Author
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Jeffrey R. Price, Mattison K. Ferber, Hua-Tay Lin, Kevin L. Poormon, Mark van Roode, Oscar Jimenez, John McClain, and Vijay M. Parthasarathy
- Subjects
Materials science ,business.industry ,Impact evaluation ,Nuclear engineering ,Mechanical engineering ,Oak Ridge National Laboratory ,Kinetic energy ,Solar energy ,Fracture toughness ,Catastrophic failure ,visual_art ,Metallography ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,Ceramic ,business - Abstract
Impact of foreign or domestic material on components in the hot section of gas turbines with ceramic components is a common cause of catastrophic failure. Several such occurrences were observed during engine testing under the Ceramic Stationary Gas Turbine program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. A limited analysis was carried out at Solar Turbines Incorporated (Solar), which involved modeling of the impact in the hot section. Based on the results of this study an experimental investigation was carried out at the University of Dayton Research Institute Impact Physics Laboratory to establish the conditions leading to significant impact damage in silicon-based ceramics. The experimental set up involved impacting ceramic flexure bars with spherical metal particulates under conditions of elevated temperature and controlled velocity. The results of the study showed a better correlation of impact damage with momentum than with kinetic energy. Increased test specimen mass and fracture toughness were found to improve impact resistance. Continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic composite (CFCC) materials have better impact resistance than monolithics. A threshold velocity was established for impacting particles of a defined mass. Post-impact metallography was carried out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to further establish the impact mechanism.
- Published
- 2002