Evaluation of Alumina-Forming Austenitic Stainless Steel Alloys in Industrial Gas Turbine

摘要

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Solar Turbines Incorporated (Solar) participated in an in-kind cost share cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) effort under the auspices of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Technology Maturation Program to explore the feasibility for use of developmental ORNL alumina-forming austenitic (AFA) stainless steels as a material of construction for industrial gas turbine recuperator components. ORNL manufactured lab scale foil of three different AFA alloy compositions and delivered them to Solar for creep properties evaluation. One AFA composition was selected for a commercial trial foil batch. Both lab scale and the commercial trial scale foils were evaluated for oxidation and creep behavior. The AFA foil exhibited a promising combination of properties and is of interest for future scale up activities for turbine recuperators. Some issues were identified in the processing parameters used for the first trial commercial batch. This understanding will be used to guide process optimization of future AFA foil material production.