Influence of high-temperature protective coatings on the mechanical properties of nickel-based superalloys

The low-pressure plasma spray coating process has been established in the field of gas turbines and is used for hot parts, such as turbine blades and duct segments, which are exposed to corrosive gases at high temperatures. Overlay coatings based on the MCrAlY alloy system (M is Ni, CO or both) are commonly employed as oxidation- and corrosion-resistant coatings. Mechanical properties, such as creep and fatigue lives, of various MCrAlY coating systems were investigated at high temperature as compared with the uncoated substrates, such as eqiaxis IN738LC, directional solidified CM247LC and single-crystal CMSX-2. It was clear that the MCrAlY coatings had no significant influence on the creep lives of substrates for the sake of superior ductility of MCrAlY coatings at high temperature. The low-cycle fatigue lives of MCrAlY coated superalloys at high temperature showed only a little superior performance in comparison with the uncoated results. However, the high-cycle fatigue lives of MCrAlY coated superalloys at high temperature showed inferior performance in comparison with the uncoated results. It was because that the low-cycle fatigue cracks initiated at casting cavities inside the substrate in both the coated and the noncoated cases. However, the high-cycle fatigue cracks initiated at interface defects, such as small pores and grit residues, between the MCrAlY coating and the substrate and grew into the MCrAlY coating, and then into the substrate.     

Influence of coatings and hot corrosion on the fatigue behaviour of nickel-based superalloys

The fatigue behaviour of materials and components is strongly affected by the surface conditions, i.e. the surface finish and the materials properties in the near- surface region. Therefore any change in these conditions during fabrication or service may change the fatigue properties.It is common practice to coat turbine blades with materials that are resistant to hot corrosion. However, this treatment involves chemical and mechanical changes in the materials surface properties which could also change the fatigue properties of these components. The recommended heat treatment for the coating normally differs from that which produces the best mechanical or creep properties of the base metal and hence may cause additional changes in the fatigue properties. Chemical and mechanical changes in the surface conditions of an uncoated component may also take place during operation. Additionally, a large amount of notching may occur since oxidation and hot corrosion are not homogeneously distributed but take place preferentially at sites such as grain boundaries.In this work we investigate the effect of Pt-Al coatings on the high cycle fatigue (HCF) behaviour of the cast nickel-based alloys IN 738LC and IN 939 which are commonly used in large industrial gas turbines. A reduction in the fatigue life due to the coating was observed. However, the simultaneous occurence of hot corrosion attack and cyclic loading was much more detrimental. Fractographic and metallographic investigations showed that, in the as-coated condition, the crack initiation sites in the Pt-Al-coated alloys were internal pores situated just below the surface of the substrate. After aging or hot corrosion cracks initiate at the surface probably as a result of notch development by the attack. When HCF and hot corrosion are acting concurrently the coatings are expected to give a beneficial effect by protecting the surface from accelerated crack initiation.     

Hot Corrosion of Protective Coatings

Improvement in efficiencies of gas turbine engines requires a significant increase of gas inlet temperatures. This results in an increased service temperature for blade materials and consequently in enhanced oxidation and hot corrosion attack of the blade coatings, which are usually of MCrAlY type where M is Ni, Co or NiCo. This type of coating can provide protection against oxidation and hot corrosion and act as a bond coat for thermal barrier coating systems. In both cases slow growth rates and optimum adherence of the alumina scales forming on the MCrAlY coatings during high temperature exposure are significant for component life. The above mentioned properties for the alumina scales strongly depend on the coating base composition as well as on the presence of minor alloying elements. In the present paper the performance of existing superalloys during hot corrosion is briefly described followed by the results obtained on hot corrosion of MCRAlY type coatings explaining the effect of trace elements on the life of coatings in the presence of NaCl and vanadium containing environments. Optimum thickness to improve the life of superalloys with NiCoCrAlY as a bond coat and yttria stabilized zirconia thermal barrier coatings has been identified. Based on the results, an electrochemical mechanism is proposed and shows that hot corrosion of protective coatings is an electrochemical phenomenon. Hence electrochemical techniques appear to be quite useful in evaluating the coatings for hot corrosion resistance.     

Fretting fatigue behaviour of hard anodizing coated 2014‐T6 aluminium alloy with dissimilar mating materials under plane bending loading

The effect of hard anodizing coated 2014‐T6 aluminium alloy test samples with dissimilar mating materials on fretting fatigue was investigated. Fretting fatigue configuration involved bridge‐type pads on the flat specimen. Bridge‐type pads were made of AISI 4140 steel. All the fretting fatigue tests were conducted under plane bending loading with a stress ratio of R=?1. Coated and uncoated specimens were compared for microhardness, surface roughness, tangential force. The specimens were tested under both plain fatigue and fretting fatigue loading at ambient temperature. Micrographs obtained from scanning electron microscope showed that hard anodizing coating had tiny cracks through the thickness of the anodized layer. The hardness of hard anodized coating was higher than that of uncoated specimens and they also exhibited lower tangential force. However, the fretted region of the hard anodizing coated specimens was rougher than that of uncoated samples and despite lower tangential forces, fatigue lives of hard anodizing coated samples were inferior to those of uncoated samples. As the hard anodizing coating had pre‐existing tiny cracks and tension residual stress, cracks propagated from the hard anodizing coating through the interface into the substrate. We conclude that these may be the main reasons for inferior fretting fatigue lives compared with uncoated samples.     

Thermal Mechanical Fatigue Behavior of Advanced Overlay Coatings

Environmental protection and cost effectiveness lead to the demand to increase the efficiency of energy conversion. In the past decade gas turbines have become an important factor in efficient power generation. Gas turbine inlet temperatures are being increased continuously to decrease the specific fuel consumption. The development of new base materials and sophisticated processes like single crystal solidification allows higher metal temperatures. This causes higher oxidative stress to the MCrAlY overlay coatings. As shown in an earlier paper (I), an improvement of the high temperature properties is achievable by the addition of Rhenium. In this paper we report on properl ies of MCrAlY coatings containing 8 to 12% Al and 10% Rhenium by weight. The coatings were applied on Inco 738 LC by LPPS (Low Pressure Plasma Spraying). Data for static oxidation and cyclic oxidation data at 950°C, I000°C up to 10,000 hours are presented. However, the main aim of this report is to discuss the thermal-mechanical properties of LPPS-coatings with Re. As known from earlier work, the variation or addition of different elements to overlay coatings lead to a change in the ductile-brittle transition. Ductile-Brittle-Transition-Temperature (DBTT) measurements on 10% Re containing systems under the variation of Co, Cr, Al and Si have been done. In order to get more information about the thermal-mechanical properties of the coating under service like conditions, TCF (Thermal Cycle Fatigue) and TMF (Thermal Mechanical Fatigue) tests were carried out. On discus shaped samples, the TCF behavior of an MCrAlYRe coating in comparison to an MCrAlY coating has been evaluated up to 1,500 cycles. The samples were heated in a radiation oven up to 1000°C and cooled down by compressed air. By this method a differentiation in the thermal fatigue behavior is possible. However, this kind of test does not cover all possible relaxation processes. A more realistic investigation of the thermal mechanical fatigue behavior is given by TMF tests. A service life cycle was taken to study the thermal mechanical behavior. It is shown that Re improves the thermal mechanical properties of MCrAlY coating systems considerably.     

Thermal Fatigue Behaviour of a Chromium Electroplated 32NiCrMo145 Steel

Thermal fatigue behavior of hard chromium electroplated steel in three different crack intensities of high contraction(HC), medium contraction (MC) and low contraction (LC) was studied. Maximum and minimum temperaturesduring thermal cycle were 800 and 100℃, respectively. The topography and cross sections of the samples exposedto 50, 100 and 200 thermal cycles were studied. The thermal fatigue behavior was analyzed using the data obtainedfrom surface roughness, crack networks and stress induced during cycles. Although the as-coated sample with LCchromium contained no crack, it appeared to have a high crack density after only 50 cycles. The crack depth andwidth in cyclically oxidized LC coating were much less than those in MC and HC coatings. It was concluded that theLC coating protected the substrate from having cracks or subsurface oxidation during thermal fatigue. The cracksin the HC and MC coatings increased in density as well as in depth by thermal cycles. Moreover, the opening of thecracks to the s     

Influence of alloying elements on hot corrosion of superalloys and coatings: necessity of smart coatings for gas turbine engines

Abstract

Modern gas turbine engines require high performance materials and coatings to ensure high efficiency. The selection of high performance materials and coatings depends on the nature and concentration of alloying elements. The composition of materials and coatings, in particular, plays a major role in enhancing the life of gas turbine engines by exhibiting good resistance to oxidation and hot corrosion, which are major problems in gas turbine engines. The performances of several superalloys containing different alloying elements and MCrAlY type coatings containing a variety of major and minor alloying elements are described in detail. The effect of major and trace elements on the life of superalloys and coatings in the presence of pure Na₂SO₄, NaCl and vanadium containing environments is detailed. The relevant reaction mechanisms leading to the failure of superalloys and coatings are discussed. The major factors involved when selecting alloying elements for the preparation of superalloys to manufacture components intended for use under hot corrosion conditions and the selection of appropriate coatings are suggested. Finally, the necessity of innovation of 'smart coatings' to combat both oxidation and hot corrosion is discussed.     

Failure of a low pressure turbine rotor blade of an aeroengine

During a test run of an aeroengine, a low-pressure turbine rotor blade had failed. The turbine blades were made of Ni-base superalloy of CM 247 LC grade and fabricated by DS investment casting. The blades were coated with platinum aluminide. Investigation revealed that the blade had failed by fatigue. It was concluded that the coating on the blade had developed cracks due to excessive bending/vibration, which in turn propagated by fatigue leading to the failure.     

HIGH-TEMPERATURE LOW-CYCLE FATIGUE AND CREEP BEHAVIOUR OF NICKEL-BASED SUPERALLOYS WITH HEAT-RESISTANT COATINGS

The problems associated with nickel-based superalloys with heat-resisting coatings, as used in aerospace, have been addressed in this paper. The influence of the heat-resisting coating technology on both the fatigue and creep behaviour of the alloys has been shown. Low-cycle fatigue and creep tests have been performed. Lifetime conditions have been determined in relation to low-cycle fatigue, isothermal creep and creep at cyclically variable temperatures, as a function of the chemical composition of the coating, parameters of the thermal treatment and thickness of the coating. Possible processes and mechanisms of fracture are discussed.     

Fatigue Properties of Steel Coated with TiN by a PVD Process

Specimens of the steels S 6-5-2 (AISIM2) and 100 Cr 6 (AISI 52100) were coated with TiN by a reactive DC-magnetron-sputtering process. The fatigue behaviour of coated and uncoated specimens was investigated under cyclic bending. The fatigue limit of the uncoated steel S 6-5-2 is mainly governed by internal defects like carbide clusters and micropipes. Therefore, a coating has no influence on the fatigue limit. At high stress amplitudes the failure of the uncoated material is initiated at the specimen surface. Thus, coating of the surface causes higher mean lifetimes. The fatigue behaviour of the uncoated steel 100 Cr 6 is mainly governed by crack initiation at the surface of the specimens. At low stress amplitudes, a coating may shift the crack initiation place to the interior of the specimens. Hence, a slight improvement of the fatigue limit by coating is observed. At high stress amplitudes the coating has no influence on crack initiation and no improvement of the lifetime can be achieved by coating.     

Influence of protective coatings on damage mechanisms and lifetime of Alloy 247 DS in thermo-mechanical fatigue tests

Abstract

The degradation process and lifetime of the directionally solidified Ni-base superalloy Alloy 247 DS was investigated under out-of-phase thermo-mechanical fatigue (OP-TMF) loading in relation to the properties and microstructure of oxidation protection coatings. The influence of two coating systems applied by low pressure plasma spraying (i) MCrAlY coating and (ii) duplex-coating consisting of the same MCrAlY coating and a NiAl-topcoat was studied.

The MCrAlY coating did not cause significant changes in failure behaviour and TMF life of the superalloy, whereas duplex coating reduced TMF life significantly because of accelerated fatigue crack initiation and propagation into the substrate material. Due to much lower fracture strains of the duplex coating than of MCrAlY coating the crack formation in the duplex coatings was already observed at very early stages of lifetime. Furthermore, crack propagation was found to be significantly affected by crack branching at the interface between coating and substrate alloy.     

Crack propagation studies and bond coat properties in thermal barrier coatings under bending

Ceramic based thermal barrier coatings (TBC) are currently considered as a candidate material for advanced stationary gas turbine components. Crack propagation studies under bending are described that were performed on plasma sprayed ZrO₂, bonded by MCrAlY layer to Ni base superalloy. The crack propagation behaviour of the coatings at room temperature in as received and oxidized conditions revealed a linear growth of the cracks on the coating till the yield point of the super alloy was reached. High threshold load at the interface between the ceramic layer and the bond coat was required to propagate the crack further into the bond coat. Once the threshold load was surpassed the crack propagated into the brittle bond coat without an appreciable increase in the load. At temperatures of 800°C the crack propagated only in the TBC (ceramic layer), as the ductile bond coat offered an attractive sink for the stress relaxation. Effects of bond coat oxidation on crack propagation in the interface region have been examined and are discussed.     

Degradation of MCrAlY Coating and Substrate Superalloy During Long Term Thermal Exposure

Reliability and service life of hot gas path components of a gas turbine are limited by the degree of coating and substrate material degradation that occurs during service. MCrAlY type coatings and Ni-base alloys are widely used in the industry. In this study, the effect of long term thermal exposure with and without stress on a blade material, U520 and on a MCrAlY coating has been investigated. Microstructural degradation of coating and U 520 material are presented as a function of time, temperature and stress. These results are compared with the degradation observed in service-exposed blades.     

镍基单晶高温合金的再结晶

镍基单晶高温合金作为先进发动机叶片的主要用材,其再结晶问题日益受到重视.本文综述了热处理温度、热处理时间、变形程度及合金成分等多种因素对镍基单晶高温合金再结晶的影响规律,分析了镍基单晶高温合金再结晶对其蠕变和疲劳性能的影响,并讨论了回复处理及浸蚀直接去除表面变形层、渗碳和表面涂层等控制再结晶的方法.最后,指出了镍基单晶...     

An investigation on the fatigue behaviour of Al 7075-T6 coated with titanium nitride using physical vapour deposition process

This paper investigates the fatigue behaviour of aluminium alloy 7075-T6 coated with 3-μm-thick titanium nitride (TiN) coatings using a physical vapour deposition (PVD) process. Preliminary work demonstrated that the high operating temperature of the deposition process markedly reduced the tensile properties of the coating-substrate system by comparison to the uncoated Al 7075-T6. The low tensile properties of the coated material caused a considerable reduction in the load-carrying capacity under fatigue loading. Consequently, a substantial decrease of 90% was found in the fatigue life of the coated material. The lost tensile properties were then satisfactorily recovered by applying a post heat treatment to the coated alloy leading to significant fatigue life improvements to approach original properties of the uncoated Al 7075-T6. The evaluation of fatigue fracture surfaces at high magnifications indicated that the fatigue cracks initiated at the outer surface of the aluminium substrate under the coating thin layer.     

Improvement in the fatigue strength of chromium electroplated AISI 4340 steel by shot peening

In landing gear, an important mechanical component for high responsible applications, wear and corrosion control is currently accomplished by chrome plating or hard anodising. However, some problems are associated with these operations. Experimental results have also shown that chrome‐plated specimens have fatigue strength lower than those of uncoated parts, attributed to high residual tensile stress and microcracks density contained into the coating. Under fatigue conditions these microcracks propagate and will cross the interface coating‐substrate and penetrate base metal without impediment. Shot peening is a surface process used to improve fatigue strength of metal components due to compressive residual stresses induced in the surface layers of the material, making the nucleation and propagation of fatigue cracks difficult. This investigation is concerned with analysis of the shot peening influence on the rotating bending fatigue strength of hard chromium electroplated AISI 4340 steel. Specimens were submitted to shot peening treatment with steel and ceramic shots and, in both cases, experimental results show increase in the fatigue life of AISI 4340 steel hard chromium electroplated, up to level of base metal without chromium. Peening using ceramic shot resulted in lower scatter in rotating bending fatigue data than steel shots.     

Application of fracture mechanics tofailure analysis and to residual life assessment of components operating at high temperatures

Abstract

MCrAlY overlay coatings have been successfully used as a means of improving the oxidation performance of gas turbine blades operating at elevated temperatures. However, depletion of aluminium can limit the ability of such coatings to form a protective oxide layer should spallation of the original α-Al₂O₃ oxide layer occur under thermal cycling conditions. It is the objective of the current research to evaluate the potential of NiAl₃ as a reservoir phase for a NiCrAlY overlay coating on a IN738LC superalloy substrate at 1,100°C in air. The morphologies and microstructures of the conventional NiCrAlY and NiAl3-modified NiCrAlY overlay coatings in the as-sprayed and oxidised conditions were characterised using SEM, EDX and XRD techniques.     

真空电弧镀沉积高温防护涂层技术

介绍了弧光放电型离子镀A1000设备，研究了沉积MCrAlY高温涂层工艺，沉积参数对涂层质量、涂层成分及涂层性能的影响。研究结果表明，采用该工艺制备MCrAlY多元包覆型涂层，工艺参数易于控制，沉积效率高，零件装载量大，制备的涂层具有优良的抗高温氧化性能。     

Initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks in cast IN 713LC superalloy

Fatigue life, initiation and propagation of cracks at 800 °C in a cast Ni-base superalloy IN 713LC were experimentally studied in high-cycle fatigue region. Load symmetrical cycling and cycling with high tensile mean load were applied. Both crystallographic crack initiation resulting in long Stage I crack growth and non-crystallographic Stage II propagation were observed. High scatter of fatigue life data was explained by: (i) variability in microstructural conditions for crystallographic crack initiation and propagation and by (ii) influence of casting defect size distribution. The fractographic observation supports the slip band decohesion mechanism of crack initiation and an important role of cyclic slip localization in persistent slip bands.     

An assessment of the role of near-threshold crack growth in high-cycle-fatigue life prediction of aerospace titanium alloys under turbine engine spectra

Increasingly accurate life prediction models are required to utilize the full capability of current and future advanced materials in gas turbine engines. Of particular recent interest are predictions of the lifetimes of engine airfoil materials that experience significant intervals of high-frequency, high-cycle fatigue (HCF). Conventional life management practices for HCF in the turbine engine industry have been based principally on a total-life approach. There is a growing need to develop damage tolerance methods capable of predicting the evolution and growth of HCF damage in the presence of foreign object damage (FOD), low cycle fatigue (LCF), and surface fretting fatigue. To help identify key aspects of the HCF life prediction problem for turbine engine components, a review is pressented of the extensive results of an Air Force research contract with Pratt & Whitney on the high strength titanium alloy Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V. Data from this representative turbine-airfoil material are used to examine the applicability of linear elastic fracture mechanics methods for prediction of service lifetimes under load spectra that include high cycle fatigue. The roles of fatigue crack initiation and growth are examined for materials that are nominally-defect-free, as well for materials that have experienced significant prior structural damage. An assessment is presented of the potential utility of the conventional threshold stress intensity factor range, ΔK _th, defined by testing specimens containing large cracks. Although the general utility of a large-crack-ΔK _th approach is questionable due to the potentially rapid growth of small fatigue cracks, the low allowable stresses involved in turbine engine high cycle fatigue appear to limit and simplify the small-crack problem. An examination is also presented of the potential effects of high-cycle fatigue and low-cycle fatigue (HCF/LCF) interactions.