The measurement of damage from high temperature solid particle erosion (HTSPE) can be a lengthy process within the laboratory with many lab-based systems requiring sequential heat and cooling of the test piece to enable mass and/or scar volume measurements to be made ex situ. Over the last few years a new lab-based system has been in development at the National Physical Laboratory which has the ability to measure the mass and volume change of eroded samples in situ without the need to cool the sample. Results have previously been shown demonstrating the in situ mass measurement, more recently the in situ volume measurement capability has been added and used to evaluate the erosion performance of additively manufactured materials. Selective laser melting (SLM) is an advanced manufacturing method which is growing in popularity and application. It offers the ability to manufacture low volume complex parts and has been used in rapid prototyping. As the technique has developed there is increasing interest to take advantage of the ability to manufacture complex parts in one piece, which in some case can be more cost and time effective than traditional manufacturing routes. For all the benefits of SLM there are some constraints on the process, these include porosity and defects in the materials such as ‘kissing bonds’, surface roughness, trapped powder and microstructural variation. These features of the processing route may have implications for component performance such as strength, fatigue resistance wear and erosion. To investigate this further SLM IN718 has been used to evaluate factors such as surface roughness, microstructure and morphology on the erosion performance as measured in situ and compared with conventional produced wrought IN718 material.

High-temperature solid particle erosion (SPE) is a major threat to efficiency in power plants and jet engines, potentially reducing turbine efficiency by 7-10% and causing significant CO 2 emissions. The sources of these particles vary widely, from volcanic ash in engines to fly ash in boilers and scale in turbines. While better surface engineering and coatings offer solutions, their development is hampered by a lack of standardized test methods and reliable models. To address this, the METROSION initiative aims to establish a comprehensive framework for characterizing the high-temperature SPE performance of new materials and coatings. This framework will require a step change in test methods and control, focusing on accurately measuring key parameters like temperature, flow rate, particle properties, and impact angles. This paper outlines the initiative’s goals, with a particular focus on the techniques used for in-situ measurements of temperature, particle velocity, and 3D shape/size.

Modern gas turbines are operated with fuels that are very clean and within the allowances permitted by fuel specifications. However, the fuels that are being considered contain vanadium, sulfur, sodium and calcium species that could significantly contribute to the degradation of components in hot gas flow path. The main potential risk of material degradation from these fuels is “hot corrosion” due to the contaminants listed above combined with alkali metal salts from ambient air. Depending on the temperature regime hot corrosion can damage both TBC coatings and bond coat/substrate materials. Deposit-induced or hot corrosion has been defined as “accelerated oxidation of materials at elevated temperatures induced by a thin film of fused salt deposit”. For the initiation of hot corrosion, deposition of the corrosive species, e.g. vanadates or sulfates, is necessary. In addition to the thermodynamic stability, the condensation of the corrosive species on the blade/vane material is necessary to first initiate and then propagate hot corrosion. Operating temperatures and pressures both influence the hot corrosion damage. The temperature ranges over which the hot corrosion occurs depend strongly on following three factors: deposit chemistry, gas constituents and metal alloy (or bond coating/thermal barrier coating) composition. This paper reports the activities involved in establishing modeling and simulation followed by testing/characterization methodologies in relevant environments to understand the degradation mechanisms essential to assess the localized risk for fuel flexible operation. An assessment of component operating conditions and gas compositions throughout the hot gas paths of the gas turbines, along with statistical materials performance evaluations of metal losses for particular materials and exposure conditions, are being combined to develop and validate life prediction methods to assess component integrity and deposition/oxidation/corrosion kinetics.

Work has been progressing over recent years to develop a standard test method for high temperature solid particle erosion testing. Early in 2015 this standard was published by ASTM as G211-14 Standard Test Method for Conducting Elevated Temperature Erosion Tests by Solid Particle Impingement Using Gas Jets. To support the development of this standard the European funded METROSION project has been conducting a comparison of different apparatus which employ different nozzle geometries, acceleration lengths, stand-off distances and heating and accelerating processes. The aim is to understand the influence these instrumental and experimental parameters have on the measured erosion rate and erosion mechanism. As part of this work three very distinct approaches have been compared using a common erodent and test pieces. Measurements have been performed at 600 °C with particle velocities of 50 to 320 m/s, using different stand-off distances, acceleration lengths and nozzle diameters for impact angles of 30 and 90°. This is the first time a comprehensive comparison of these parameters has been conducted and shows the relative influence of these experimental variables.