Offering the competitive advantage to gas turbine industry
Critical parts of gas turbine engines, such as turbine blades and nozzle guide vanes are normally made of highest quality nickel super-alloys. These conventional materials are gradually replaced by the new and sophisticated Single Crystal (SX) and Directionally Solidified (DS) super-alloys. This is mainly due to the exceptional properties they display in terms of mechanical, thermal and environmental behaviour. However, with the advent of these new SX/DS super-alloy materials, conventional repair methods have become inadequate. To answer this need the SCARF project developed a new braze repair process for repair of cracks in SX and DS super-alloy components of gas turbine engines. This was made available to Rolls-Royce, one of the project participants, to apply it in the repair of its aero-engine components. There is also an open possibility for applying this new wide gap crack repair technology to other gas turbines as well. It is expected that following completion of the full characterisation of the properties of the SCARF braze repair system, Rolls-Royce will seek approval to adopt it in routine practice. Approval requires collection of detailed test and characterisation data relevant to the new braze process and to the properties of the braze repaired component. Once approved, Rolls-Royce is expected to offer to operators and over haulers of its aero engines an improved and relatively inexpensive repair service for SX/DS turbine components. The new braze repair process is anticipated to optimise the life cycle of large numbers of costly turbine components in the aero and land-based gas turbine industries. Power plant operators will benefit from increased savings in material costs. Moreover, scrapping of expensive components will be reduced with additional savings in energy and materials consumption. The technology is expected to significantly contribute to the strengthening of European position in two major industrial sectors, air transport and energy generation.
