Towards Sustainable Repair and Manufacturing of Gas Turbine Components for Reduced Carbon Footprint

Gas turbines are extensively used around the globe for propulsion and power generation. The hot-section components of gas turbines are made of nickel-based superalloys which are very difficult to repair due to their complex chemistry. Investment cast and fully machined hot-section components cost several hundred to several thousand dollars apiece. With several hundred such components installed in each gas turbine, their total replacement cost at the time of overhaul is upwards of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars per engine. Many of these components could be salvaged from the scrap heap if a technology capable of such repair exists facilitating reduced carbon footprint and material waste. This poster describes the ongoing research that is currently being performed at the Additive Repair & Manufacturing (ARM) Lab at Penn State to facilitate repair of hot-section components through Additive Manufacturing (AM) so that they can be put back into service. The goal of this research is to advance the scientific understanding of the underlying physics of melting and re-solidification, microstructure, and properties of various nickel-base superalloys deposited using AM. Multiphysics-based simulation, experimental validation, and advanced materials characterization techniques are combined to advance the AM-based processing of nickel-base superalloys enabling repair of hot-section components.

Day
Tuesday Poster Session
Authors
Amrita Basak
Related Conference Themes
Materials & Waste