Structural Metallic Systems For Advanced Gas Turbine Applications

Lead Research Organisation: University of Cambridge
Department Name: Materials Science & Metallurgy

Abstract

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Publications

10 25 50
 
Description Through this research initiative, new, high performance steels, nickel, cobalt, titanium and niobium-based alloys have been developed for the most demanding applications with gas turbine engines. In addition, an enhanced understanding of the performance and degradation of these materials was established.

These achievements are enabling new gas turbine designs as well as providing significant commercial savings to UK industry through reduced servicing costs.
Exploitation Route The research conducted in this programme was performed in close collaboration with the industrial partners. This automatically ensured that the research was matched to UK industrial need and that a route for commercial exploitation was immediately available.
Sectors Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Transport

 
Description The objectives of the Strategic Partnership in Structural Metallic Systems for Gas Turbines were: 1. To undertake the fundamental materials research necessary to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of gas turbine engines. 2. To train the next generation of world-class materials scientists and metallurgical engineers in structural metallic systems that will be critical to the future health of the discipline in UK academia and industry. These objectives were met through collaborative research and training activities run between academia and industry. This utilised the capabilities of a wide section of the academic community to develop new materials technologies that will give improvements in the performance of gas turbines, as well as performing the fundamental science required to ensure that they are safely used to the limits of their capabilities. The research was performed under the guidance and support of the industrial partners who will ultimately use these materials technologies, thereby providing intrinsic pathways to commercial exploitation. The realisation of these technologies will help maintain the commercial competitiveness of the UK gas turbine industry, helping secure a very significant number of jobs within UK manufacturing, as well as the possibility of further job creation. New alloys have been developed that provide significant performance benefits over existing materials. For high pressure turbine disc applications, several new nickel and cobalt based alloys have been devised, one of which is now being assessed for commercial scale-up. To facilitate the fabrication of such components from these new, high strength alloys, two new molybdenum alloys have been created for forging die applications. A new chromium based alloy has also been designed that offers potential for low pressure turbine blade applications. Work on turbine tip sealing has focused on developing test facilities that enable the study of the interaction of the turbine tip and the porous ceramic abradable at high temperatures, typically 1,100 °C. It has been shown that at higher temperatures the abradability of the tip decreases and that this is associated with the softening of the anchor phase at higher temperatures allowing the abrasive to be pulled out. This has led to the development of anchor phase alloys with greatly increased strengths. Recent work has focused on understanding the effect of electronic structure on dislocation motion. It has been shown that differences in electronegativity, cause changes in the local shear modulus, causing changes in the dislocation width and giving dramatic changes in the yield stress. This work has led to collaborations being formed with RWTH Aachen and the Belgian Nuclear Institute (SCK). ?-TiAl and a2-Ti3Al have insufficient slip systems to allow a general plastic strain at a lamellar boundary. Dislocation glide or twinning at such boundaries will therefore be associated with elastic misfit strains. These can be relaxed by the formation of cracks, which can then grow by fatigue. Preventing the formation of such flaws requires a quantitative understanding of the possible deformation modes. This is being carried out using digital image correlation and electron backscatter diffraction. It has been found that longitudinal twinning can occur at stresses of ~100 MPa, lower than that required for dislocation motion. In situ observations in the scanning electron microscope have shown that this gives rise to the nucleation of cracks particularly at higher temperatures. The growth of these cracks in fatigue is now being investigated.
Sector Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Transport
Impact Types Economic

 
Description EPSRC Standard Research Grant
Amount £7,939,564 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/M005607/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2014 
End 09/2019
 
Description Structural Metallic Systems For Advanced Gas Turbine Applications
Amount £2,740,824 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/H500375/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2009 
End 09/2014
 
Title Research data supporting Gamma Prime Precipitate Evolution During Aging of a Model Nickel Based Superalloy 
Description Excel spreadsheets containing the particle size distributions (PSDs), compositions of each phase, lattice parameters and proximity histograms of composition across the precipitate - matrix interfaces. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Description Analysis of cobalt-based alloys 
Organisation Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Access to facilities for the preparation of new cobalt-based alloys
Collaborator Contribution Characterisation and analysis of the new cobalt-based alloys
Impact The following paper was produced from this work: Mechanical properties and lattice misfit of ?/?' strengthened Co-base superalloys in the Co-W-Al-Ti quaternary system Zenk, C.H., Neumeier, S., Stone, H.J., Göken, M., Intermetallics, 55, pp. 28-39, 2014.
Start Year 2010
 
Description Assessment of chromium based alloys 
Organisation Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Design and preparation of the alloys under investigation
Collaborator Contribution Access to specialist testing equipment.
Impact The following paper was written based on this collaboration: Microstructure and mechanical properties of Cr-Ta-Si Laves phase-based alloys at elevated temperatures Ayan Bhowmik, Steffen Neumeier, Jon S. Barnard, Christopher H. Zenk, Mathias Göken, Catherine M.F. Rae & Howard J. Stone Philosophical Magazine DOI:10.1080/14786435.2014.971086
Start Year 2011
 
Description Development of cobalt-based superalloys 
Organisation Imperial College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaborative development of new cobalt-based superalloys. Sharing of equipment and expertise.
Collaborator Contribution Collaborative development of new cobalt-based superalloys. Sharing of equipment and expertise.
Impact Gamma prime strengthened cobalt & nickel based superalloy, D Dye, M Knop, H-Y Yan, M Hardy and H J Stone, GB Patent application GB1312000.1, filed 4th July 2013.
Start Year 2010
 
Description Ohio State 
Organisation Ohio State University
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution we have worked together on the structure of defects in deformed superalloys
Collaborator Contribution we have provided matera=ials and interpretation of results
Impact there have been 4 publications in peer reviewed journals
Start Year 2010
 
Description Small-scale testing 
Organisation Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
Country Switzerland 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have developed new test methods for measuring toughness of hard coatings
Collaborator Contribution EMPA carried out the test on equipment they had designed
Impact Papers: 10.1063/1.4867017 10.1063/1.4939758 10.1557/jmr.2011.268 10.1016/j.actamat.2013.08.023
Start Year 2011
 
Description University of Erlangen 
Organisation Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have hosted a PhD student looking at defects in the TEM of novel Cobalt alloys
Collaborator Contribution We provided time on the microscopes and expertise to take images and interpret these.
Impact Work is ongoing and will result in at least one high quality publication
Start Year 2014
 
Title A nickel alloy 
Description A new nickel-based superalloy for high temperature structural applications in the aerospace industry. 
IP Reference EP20140157622 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2013
Licensed No
Impact None to date.
 
Title ALLOY STEEL 
Description The invention provides an alloy steel having the following composition: Ni 5-14 wt %; Cr 4-16 wt %; Co 7-14 wt %; Mo 1-5 wt %; W 0-5 wt %; Ti 0-0.8 wt %; Al 0.1-3 wt %; the balance being Fe save for incidental impurities. This provides an ultra-high strength corrosion resistant steel with good toughness, which does not significantly creep at temperatures up to 450° C. The high quantity of alloying to elements, particularly chromium, also gives the alloy good corrosion resistance. The alloy is particularly suitable for main shafts of gas turbine engines. 
IP Reference US2012080124 
Protection Patent granted
Year Protection Granted 2012
Licensed Commercial In Confidence
Impact Now being considered for use by industry.
 
Title Alloy 
Description A new cobalt-based superalloys for high temperature structural applications. 
IP Reference EP20140173730 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2013
Licensed No
Impact None to date.
 
Title Alloy composition 
Description The composition of a new, high strength molybdenum based alloy 
IP Reference EP20140161255 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2013
Licensed No
Impact None to date.
 
Title An alloy steel 
Description The invention provides an alloy steel having the following composition: Ni 5-14wt%; Cr 4-16wt%; Co 7-14wt%; Mo 1-5wt%; W 0-5wt%; Ti 0-0.8wt%; Al 0.1-3wt%; the balance being Fe save for incidental impurities. This provides an ultrahigh strength corrosion resistant steel with good toughness, which does not significantly creep at temperatures up to 450°C. The high quantity of alloying elements, particularly chromium, also gives the alloy good corrosion resistance. The alloy is particularly suitable for main shafts of gas turbine engines. 
IP Reference EP2439288 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2012
Licensed Commercial In Confidence
Impact .
 
Title CHROMIUM ALLOY 
Description A hypereutectic chromium alloy consisting of 9 to 12 at % tantalum, 4 to 15 at % silicon, 0 to 7 at % molybdenum, 0 to 7 at % aluminium, 0 to 7 at % titanium, 0 to 5 at % rhenium, 0 to 2 at % silver, 0 to 2 at % hafnium, 0 to 2 at % lanthanum, 0 to 2 at % cerium, 0 to 2 at % yttrium and the balance chromium and incidental impurities. The hypereutectic chromium alloy has good oxidation resistance and good fracture toughness. The chromium alloy may be used to make gas turbine engine turbine blades, turbine vanes, turbine seals, combustion chamber tiles, exhaust nozzle segments or steam turbine components. 
IP Reference US2013121823 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2013
Licensed Commercial In Confidence
Impact -
 
Title High Temperature High Strength Steel Alloy for Gas Turbine 
Description The invention provides an alloy steel having the following composition: Ni 5-14 wt %; Cr 4-16 wt %; Co 7-14 wt %; Mo 1-5 wt %; W 0-5 wt %; Ti 0-0.8 wt %; Al 0.1-3 wt %; the balance being Fe save for incidental impurities. This provides an ultra-high strength corrosion resistant steel with good toughness, which does not significantly creep at temperatures up to 450° C. The high quantity of alloying to elements, particularly chromium, also gives the alloy good corrosion resistance. The alloy is particularly suitable for main shafts of gas turbine engines. 
IP Reference US20120080124 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2011
Licensed Commercial In Confidence
Impact .
 
Title Molybdenum Alloy Composition 
Description A molybdenum based alloy composition comprising between 15% and 20% niobium and 0.05% and 0.25% carbon 
IP Reference EP2796581 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2014
Licensed No
Impact None yet.
 
Title A chromium alloy 
Description A new alloy formulation for a chromium alloy for high temperature service 
Type Of Technology New Material/Compound 
 
Title Alloy optimisation tool 
Description Computer programme for the automatic determination of the best alloy for a given set of property targets 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2013 
 
Description Bainitic Steels and other recent developments 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Workshop on bainitic steels and phase transformation phenomena.

University of Leoben, Austria.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Beyond mere metals 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A web article about coatings on metal components for public engagement.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/features/article/beyond-mere-metals/
 
Description Chair of Diamond peer review panel 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Dr Howard Stone has chaired one of the Diamond peer review panels since Dec 2011 . Awarding Body - Diamond Light Source, Name of Scheme - Peer Review Panel

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011,2013,2014
 
Description In search of advanced intermetallics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A web article about intermetallic compounds for public engagement.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/features/article/in-search-of-advanced-intermetallics/
 
Description Lectures on phase transformations in steels 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact A comprehensive set of lecture videos on phase transformations in steels. Available at:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD896F39D159E244E.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD896F39D159E244E
 
Description Making metals take the heat 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A web article about the development of new high temperature structural materials for public engagement.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/features/article/making-metals-take-the-heat/
 
Description Nanostructure bainite 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact BBC Naked Scientist radio programme and podcast on the nanostructured bainite.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/2152/
 
Description Online cartoons to explain nanostructure 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Online cartoons to explain nanostructure available at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5715F1F7DEBB2240.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5715F1F7DEBB2240
 
Description Processing nickel-base superalloys 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A web article about how nickel based superalloys are produced and processed for public engagement.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/features/article/processing-nickel-base-superalloys/
 
Description Steeling the Show 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A web article about steels for public engagement.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/features/article/steeling-the-show/
 
Description Strategic Partnership website 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact A website for the Rolls-Royce EPSRC Strategic Partnership used for the management of student courses and conferences.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Tetragonal Ferrite 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Invited lecture at POSTECH in South Korea, March 2013.

This lecture will be made available on line on http://www.youtube.com/user/bhadeshia123?feature=mhee following publication of the Scripta Materialia papers.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013
URL http://www.youtube.com/user/bhadeshia123?feature=mhee
 
Description The 2012 Sidney Gilchrist Thomas Prestige Lecture 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 2012 Sidney Gilchrist Thomas Prestige Lecture

"Armour, Bearings, Aeroengines and Nanostructured Materials".

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description The Superalloys 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A web article about superalloys for public engagement.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/features/article/the-superalloys/
 
Description The art of alloying 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Public engagement of science podcast on metallurgy.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/1714/
 
Description The future of steel? - The first bulk nano structured material 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Lecture to the LISI (www.lisi.org).

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description When a metallurgist met a blacksmith 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Public engagement of science podcast on metallurgy.

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Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
URL http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/1712/