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Detecting Internal Hot Corrosion of In-service Turbine Blades Using Neutron Tomography with Gd Tagging

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Abstract

Neutron tomography with Gd tagging has been developed for application to in-service turbine blades to ensure theirs maintainability. Hot corrosion was detected in the air channels of 13 % of in-service blades. Hot corrosion occurs in clusters of about 15 mm in diameter. The size of individual hot corrosion features was determined to be in the range of 0.8–2.81 mm by neutron tomography. Turbine blades with indications of flaws were crosscut with a wire for internal verification. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that hot corrosion occurs in scattered groups with multiple pits of about 150 \(\upmu \)m in size in the channels. The analyzed oxygen content of the corroded surface was over 30 wt% higher when compared with new turbine blades by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. These findings may play a pivotal role in curtailing in-service turbine blade failure due to internal corrosion of cooling channels. Applying these results with neutron tomography on in-service turbine blades can lead to more reliable determinations of condemnation.

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Acknowledgments

The Project was funded by AERO and KAERI. KAERI expresses deep gratitude to Aerotest Operations and MNRC (U.S.A) for making their reactors available despite their busy schedules for confirmation of our results. With their cooperation, the internal assessment of our collective capabilities was successful. I am in debt to Dr. Seong Sik Hwang of KAERI for SEM and EDS data. I am grateful to Dr. John Rogers for reviewing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 150, Deokjin-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon , 305-353, Korea

    Cheul Muu Sim, Hwa Suk Oh, Tae Joo Kim & Yoon Sang Lee

  2. Radpharm Ltd., 1045 Daedeokdaero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon , 303-353, Korea

    Yi Kyung Kim

  3. NAWOO TECH Ltd., Kranz Techno#304, 5442-1, Sangdaewon-Dong, Seongnam , 462-120, Korea

    Seung Seob Kwak

  4. Aero Technical Research Institute, 701-799 Gumsa-dong, Dong-gu, Daegu , 304-160, Korea

    Young Ha Hwang

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  1. Cheul Muu Sim
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  2. Hwa Suk Oh
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  3. Tae Joo Kim
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  4. Yoon Sang Lee
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  5. Yi Kyung Kim
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  7. Young Ha Hwang
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Correspondence to Cheul Muu Sim.

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Sim, C.M., Oh, H.S., Kim, T.J. et al. Detecting Internal Hot Corrosion of In-service Turbine Blades Using Neutron Tomography with Gd Tagging. J Nondestruct Eval 33, 493–503 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-014-0244-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-014-0244-x

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