| Abstract: | In order to determine the remaining life of service exposed turbine blades it is necessary to characterize the degeneration of the microstructure of the base metal during service. Since turbine blades of industrial gas turbines are kept in complete stages, non-destructive inspection (NDI) is very attractive. Hence the goal of the investigation reported here was to evaluate a NDI technique able to detect microstructural changes of the base metal. It was found that single-stage replication (in combination with investigation in a Scanning Electron Microscope) is a relatively simple technique that fulfils all requirements. This technique can be used in-situ on uncoated buckets. For coated turbine blades local removal of the coating is necessary to perform base metal replication. |
