Abstract:
Wear is one of the major causes of failure in many parts and components in gas turbine engines. Thefuel nozzle and its collar are two of the components that suffer rapid wear, in particular fretting wear at elevated temperature due to the vibration of the engine. The reported work was carried out tostudy the wear-resistant coatings for this application. Four types of coating, namely WC-17%Co,Cr3C2-25%NiCr, Al-Si-Graphite and Cr-Mo-Cr-Si, were deposited on stainless steel substrates bythermal spraying technique. Physical properties of the coatings, such as adhesion strength, porosityand microstructure, were measured for comparison. Wear properties of the coatings were obtainedusing an inhouse, flat-on-flat wear tester, which was designed to simulate the vibrating condition ofthe nozzle. The tester was positioned inside a furnace to obtain an operating condition of 500 degreeof Celsius. Wear tests were performed for various time duration for each set of specimen. The wearbehaviors of each type of coating was also studied.The results showed that the HVOF coating out performed the plasma sprayed coatings of the samematerials due to its minimal porosity, higher coating hardness and fracture strength, higher adhesionto the stainless steel substrate and higher phase stability to oxidation and decarburization.Results from the fretting wear test showed an increase in the amount of oxidation anddecarburization in WC-17%Co coatings, which was responsible for an increase in the coatingbrittleness, which in turn, will cause the coating failure from abrasive wear.Al-Si-Graphite coating precipitated primary Si particles, which improved the wear resistance of thecoating. However, the weak composite structure between Al-Si and Graphite cannot withstand suchsevere wear condition, and therefore, did not perform satisfactory.Cr3C2-25%NiCr possessed good wear and oxidation resistance, which was shown by small amountof continuous weight gain during testing. Co-Mo-Cr-Si also exhibited an excellent wear and oxidation properties. The oxidation almost reach constant within 6 hours of testing. It was thus, concluded that the most coating appropriated for protected fuel nozzle and fuel nozzle collar in land based gas turbine from fretting wear at 500?C is Co-Mo-Cr-Si coating