The Protection of Gas Turbine Blades

Abstract

Turbine blades in gas turbine engines operate at elevated temperatures and in highly oxidising atmospheres that can be contaminated with fuel residues and sea water salts. These components, which are expensive to produce, are subjected to high stresses during operation but must be totally reliable during their design life. An economic way to maintain blade properties is to coat the base metal superalloy with a protective layer capable of resisting both high temperature oxidation and hot corrosion. Conventional aluminide coatings are widely used for this purpose but platinum aluminides offer improved corrosion resistance. A collaborative exercise involving Rolls-Royce and Johnson Matthey has now resulted in the development of a platinum aluminide diffusion coating that offers some advantages over the commercial systems.