Improving Fatigue Corrosion Resistance of Turbine Blades Using Laser Processing

Abstract

The present paper investigates the nanomaterial coatings effect on turbine blades by laser processing. The present paper explores the impact of laser cladding parameters on the corrosion behavior of the resulting surface. Powders of Inconel 600 were deposited on the steel substrate. The surface can be thought of as the most important part of every engineering component. Unlike the rest of the component's volume, the surface is exposed to wear and becomes the place where most cracks form and corrosion initiates. Corrosion is one of the most harmful problems affecting turbine blades. In the current investigation, coating nanomaterials, namely Inconel 600, have been used to resist corrosion. The specimens of tests have been obtained from the part of the turbine blades in Al-Doura Station, located south of Baghdad. These specimens are separated into two groups: The 1st group is received specimens, and the 2nd group is with nanoparticle coating, including Inconel 600 coating applied by laser cladding. The procedure of cladding was implemented utilizing the following parameters :(11 j) pulse energy, (6 Ms.) pulse width, (12 Hz) pulse frequency, (132 W) laser average power, and (1.83 KW) laser peak power. The results show that the microstructure of steels after laser processing is greatly refined with equiaxed grains and highly homogeneous as compared with those of steels before laser treatment, resulting in a significant improvement in strength, toughness, and fatigue corrosion.

Keywords

• turbine blades
• fatigue corrosion
• laser cladding process
• nanoparticle coating
• inconel 600