Current elevated turbine inlet temperatures were made possible by the development of blade thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). However the effectiveness of these coatings could be compromised by erosive particles ingested into the engine with the incoming air or generated by the combustion of heavy and synthetic fuels. Reliable test facilities are essential to characterize their erosion resistance in increased test temperatures. This paper provides a detailed description of an advanced high temperature erosion tunnel capable of testing at temperature of 1370 °C (2500 °F) that has been recently constructed and installed in the University of Cincinnati Gas Turbine Erosion Lab. The paper also presents an overview of both theoretical and experimental investigations dealing with the new high temperature erosion tunnel design optimization and validation with comparisons to our legacy erosion tunnels. Results are presented for tested standard plasma sprayed 7 wt% Yttria stabilized Zirconia (7YSZ) TBC coated samples’ erosion rates at different temperatures, particle impact velocities and impingement angles.

Volume Subject Area:
Manufacturing Materials and Metallurgy
Topics:
Erosion, High temperature, Testing, Tunnels, Turbine blades, Temperature, Blades, Coatings, Combustion, Design, Engines, Gas turbines, Optimization, Particle collisions, Particulate matter, Plasmas (Ionized gases), Synthetic fuels, Test facilities, Thermal barrier coatings, Turbines
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Copyright © 2016 by ASME
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