Liburdi Group of Companies

Liburdi Engineering Ltd

Liburdi Turbine Services Inc
Liburdi Automation Inc
Liburdi Dimetrics Corp
Dundas, Ontario Canada

Dundas, Ontario
Davidson, North Carolina
St Petersburg, Russia

Davidson, NC, USA

Liburdi Engineering Limited

Turbomachinery Conference Houston, TX September 13-17, 2009

2

PowerGen Conference Las Vegas, NV December 7-10, 2009

Superalloys

Typical Gas Turbine

Component Materials
Compressor
Some 300SS
403, 410, 422,
450 Stainless
IN718
Ti64 titanium

Combustor
Turbine Stationary
300SS
300SS, 400SS
Hastelloy-X, RA-33
N-155, M509, HS-188,L605
L-605
X-40, X-45, FSX-414, ECY-768
IN-600, IN-617
IN738, R80, GTD222, GTD444
Nimonic 75, Nimonic 263
Haynes 230

Piping, tubing,
valves, etc.
Steel
Compressor
Casings
Grey Cast Iron
Carbon Steel
Turbine Shells
Ductile Cast Iron
Compressor
Wheels/Disks
Ni-Cr-MO-V
Forging

Turbine Rotating
Waspalloy, U-500, U520, U700,
U710, U720, INX750, IN738,
Rene80, GTD111, M247, M002,
PWA1483, CMSX4, ReneN5

Turbine
Wheels/Discs
Ni-Cr-MO-V Steel
Cr-Mo-V Forging
12Cr Stainless
Discalloy
A286
IN718

SUPERALLOYS
1.
2.

3.

Definition and Properties

Strengthening Mechanisms
- Solid Solution Hardening
- Precipitation Hardening and Heat Treatment
- Grain Boundary Hardening and Control
Surface Stability: Oxidation and Hot Corrosion

SUPERALLOY DEFINITION
Superalloys have remarkable mechanical strength at
high temperatures -- up to 80% of their incipient
melting point.
Superalloys exhibit the highest surface stability in air
at elevated temperatures of engineering alloys.
Superalloys are also exotic as they can contain up
to 12 elements And they can have as many
elements specifically excluded.

ALLOY PROPERTIES
Metals and their alloys have varying strength and
oxidation resistance (and cost)
Alloys used for
Turbine
Blades/Buckets

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
Fe/Ni-based superalloys are
economical, high strength
forging alloys for low and
intermediate temperatures
Ni-based superalloys can
withstand high creep stresses
at intermediate and high
temperatures
Co-based superalloy are
castable, weldable, and useful
at very high temperature and
corrosive environments

Compositions and Properties Nickel Based Alloys

Sheet alloys like Hasteloy X have low Aluminum + Titanium
content have excellent formability
Forged alloys like Udimet 520, Nimonic105, X750 have a
moderate Aluminum + Titanium content, have good
mechanical properties but are forgeable. Used for
intermediate-temperature buckets.
Cast alloys like CMSX, GTD111, IN738, MM247 have a high
Aluminum + Titanium content, have excellent mechanical
properties at elevated temperature and are used for the
highest temperature blades.
9

SUPERALLOY PROPERTIES
Excellent mechanical properties in the service temperature
and stress range that gas turbine blades operate in, even
after prolonged service
Excellent creep strength
Useful mechanical strength
Good fatigue and thermal fatigue properties
Adequate ductility and toughness (low crack growth rates)
Useful thermal expansion characteristics
Excellent resistance to oxidation and corrosion
Alloy additions form self-healing protective scales
Fabricability (forging, casting, welding, machining, coating)
10

SUPERALLOY DESIGN

Solvent can be cobalt, iron or nickel (usually a mixture of

nickel and cobalt)
Oxidation protection provided by aluminum & chromium
Solutes, molybdenum, niobium, rhenium, tantalum, tungsten
Precipitation formers: aluminum, titanium, niobium
Grain strengtheners: carbon, hafnium, zirconium, boron
Tramp elements: silver, boron, silicon

11

Cast Nickel Based Alloy

Compositions
Alloy

Ni

Cr

Co

Mo

Ta

Cb

Al

Ti

Fe

Mn

Hf

Zr

Others

Ni-Base Alloys
Alloy 713C

74

12.5

0.0

4.2

0.0

0.0

2.0

6.1

0.8

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.12

0.012

0.10

B-1900

64

8.0

10.0

6.0

0.0

4.0

0.0

6.0

1.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.10

0.015

0.10

C-1023

58

15.5

10.0

8.5

0.0

0.0

0.0

4.2

3.6

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.16

0.006

0.00

CMSX- 2

66

8.0

4.6

0.6

7.9

5.8

0.0

5.6

0.9

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.00

0.000

0.00

GTD-111

60

14.0

9.5

1.5

3.8

2.8

0.0

3.0

4.9

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.10

0.01

0.03

GTD-222

51

22.5

19.0

0.0

2.0

1.0

0.8

1.2

2.3

0..0

0.0

0.0

0.10

0.010

0.01

IN-100

60

10.0

15.0

3.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

5.5

4.7

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.18

0.014

0.06

IN-738LC

61

16.0

8.5

1.7

2.6

1.7

0.9

3.4

3.4

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.11

0.010

0.05

IN-939

48

22.5

19.9

0.0

2.0

1.4

1.0

1.9

3.7

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.15

0.009

0.09

IN-792

61

12.4

9.0

1.9

3.8

3.9

0.0

3.1

4.5

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.12

0.020

0.10

MarM-002

61

9.0

10.0

0.0

10

2.5

0.0

5.5

1.5

0.0

0.0

1.5

0.14

0.015

0.05

MarM-247

60

8.3

10.0

0.7

10

3.0

0.0

5.5

1.0

0.0

0.0

1.5

0.10

0.015

0.05

PWA-1483

61

12.8

9.0

1.9

3.8

4.0

0.0

3.6

4.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.07

0.0

0.0

Rene-N5
12

62

7.0

8.0

2.0

5.0

7.0

0.0

6.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

1.0 V

3.0 Re

PRECIPITATION STRENGTHENING

Superalloys are strengthened by carbide and gamma-prime ( )precipitates

Substitution of aluminium for nickel in lattice results in phase of the
composition Ni3Al.
Titanium and niobium can substitute for aluminium in
The volume fraction of phase formed is a function of the hardener content

Increasing
creep
strength

Increasing volume

phase in Ni-based superalloy

13

Gamma Prime ()
Strengthening (cont.)
Cuboidal
primary
phase

Spherical
secondary
phase
14

PRECIPITATION STRENGTHENING
For a given volume of in
nickel superalloy, maximum
strength is developed at an
optimum precipitate size
Heat treatments are used to
create the optimum
precipitate size(s).
In reality, it is both the size
and spacing between
precipitates that is
responsible for strength.

15

ALLOY HEAT TREATMENT

16

GRAIN BOUNDARY HARDENING:

BY CARBIDES

MC carbides form at high

temperature and precipitate
throughout the matrix with little
influence on strength
M23C6 or M6C particles form
preferentially along grain
boundaries during aging cycles
and service exposure
The particles inhibit grain
boundary sliding and add to
strength however there is an
optimum carbon addition level
(0.1-0.2%) beyond which
properties degrade
Grain boundary carbide particles in IN939 alloy

17

GRAIN SIZE STRENGTHENING

Fine grain sizes provide high tensile and fatigue strengths,
BUT lower creep strengths result

Creep of IN738

18

Fatigue of IN718, IN901 and

Waspaloy

GRAIN ORIENTATION ADVANCED

CASTING TECHNOLOGIES

Equiaxed
(polycrystalline]
19

Directionally
Solidified (DS)

Single Crystal (SC)

[monocrystalline]

GRAIN ORIENTATION
Grain boundaries are the weakest-link in polycrystalline superalloy
behaviour. If the stresses are highly uniaxial, and the service
temperature is very high, significant improvements can be made
through controlling grain-boundary orientation or eliminating them
altogether during casting.

equiaxed
Polycrystal
20

columnar
single crystal
DS Directional
SX
Solidification

TRENDS IN TURBINE BLADE ALLOYS

and GRAIN ORIENTATION

21

COMPARATIVE DS, SX AND

POLYCRYSTAL PROPERTIES

22

SURFACE STABILITY:
OXIDATION AND HOT CORROSION
Engineering alloys are not stainless, they all form oxide
scales in air.
Scale formation rate is a function of temperature and
environment
Some native scales are not protective (Fe, Mg)
Some native scales are protective (Al, Cr, Ti)
Alloying enough protective element into nonprotective can impart protection (ie: 12+% chromium
into iron makes stainless steel)
Protective elements can be added to base alloy or clad
over as a coating
23

NATIVE OXIDE SCALES HIERARCHY FOR

SUPERALLOYS AND COATINGS

24

Al2O3
Very Protective
NiAl2O4
NiTa2O6
CrTaO4
Cr2O3
Protective
NiCr2O4
CoCr2O4
NiTiO3
NiO
Not helpful
CoO
TiO2
W, Mo, refractory oxides

Advanced Design Turbine Blades

(Industrial Frame Engines Now Using Aero Cooling, Aero Alloys)
Manufacturer/Model

First Stage Turbine Blade / Bucket

Alstom-GT24/26

Single Crystal, Ni-Base

Matrix Cooled
VPS-NiCoCrAlY with APS-TBC

GE-Frame 7FA

Directionally Solidified, GTD111

Serpentine Cooling w/Turbulators
LPPS-CoCrAlY/DVC-TBC, Plus Internal Coatings

Siemens V84.3A

Single Crystal PWA1480

VPS-CoNiCrAlYSi Plus Internal Coatings

SiemensWestinghouse 501G
GE LM2500+
25RR RB211 GT

Directionally Solidified CM247

Serpentine, Film & Showerhead
VPS-NiCoCrAlY/TBC
Single Crystal N5 (GE), CMX4 (RR)
Serpentine, Film & Showerhead
PT Al Coating plus internal Coating (LM2500+)