Steam turbine generator blade wear

Are steam turbine rotor blades eroded?

To date there has been insufficient data on the erosion process which the steam turbine rotor blades are subject to during the operation, data which could be a basis for development and verification of mathematical models to estimate the service life of eroded rotor blades.

What causes steam turbine blade erosion?

Steam turbine blade erosion is of two types. Erosion by particulates is due to oxide scales and is found at the front end of turbines. Erosion by water droplets is essentially a back-end problem. Oxide scale erosion is normally due to the exfoliation of magnetite scales from the superheater and reheater.

What is a steam turbine blade?

Steam turbine blades are critical components in power plants which convert the linear motion of high temperature and high pressure steam flowing down a pressure gradient into a rotary motion of the turbine shaft. You might find these chapters and articles relevant to this topic. N.K. MUKHOPADHYAY, ...

Why do steam turbine blades need coatings?

Advanced coating technologies can also be applied to protect blades from future wear and erosion. The sealing system in steam turbines plays a critical role in maintaining efficiency by preventing steam leakage. Over time, seals can wear out or get damaged, leading to efficiency losses.

How are steam turbine blades made?

One typical production route for steam turbine blades is through closed-dye forging, which results in higher mechanical reliability of the material. Blades are in fact typically produced via closed-dye forging to comply with very stringent mechanical properties requirements.

Why do steam turbine blades fail?

As well, Cano et al. investigated the damage causes for the failure of various steam turbine blades . A combination of strain-cycling fatigue and fatigue itself was defined as the root causes of failure. Crack initiation was related to the damage caused by the centrifugal load of the turbine blades.