Performance of candidate gas turbine abradeable seal materials in high temperature combustion atmospheres

摘要

The development of abradeable gas turbine seals for higher temperature duties has been the target of an EU-funded R&D project, ADSEALS, with the aim of moving towards seals that can withstand surface temperatures as high as ～ 1100℃ for periods of at least 24,000 h. The ADSEALS project has investigated the manufacturing and performance of a number of alternative materials for the traditional honeycomb seal design and novel alternative designs. This paper reports results from two series of exposure tests carried out to evaluate the oxidation performance of the seal structures in combustion gases and under thermal cycling conditions. These investigations formed one part of the evaluation of seal materials that has been carried out within the ADSEALS project. The first series of three tests, carried out for screening purposes, exposed candidate abradeable seal materials to a simulated natural gas combustion environment at temperatures within the range 1050-1150 ℃ in controlled atmosphere furnaces for periods of up to ～ 2,500 h with fifteen thermal cycles. The samples were thermally cycled to room temperature on a weekly basis to enable the progress of the degradation to be monitored by mass change and visual observation, as well as allowing samples to be exchanged at planned intervals. The honeycombs were manufactured from PM2000 and Haynes 214. The backing plates for the seal constructions were manufactured from Haynes 214. Some seals contained fillers or had been surface treated (e.g. aluminised).