A Review on the Corrosion and Fatigue Failure of Gas Turbines

Abstract

Since gas turbines are used in airplanes, ship engines and power plants, they play a significant role in providing sustainable energy. Turbines are designed for a certain lifetime according to their operating conditions and the failure mechanisms they deal with. However, most of them experience unexpected and catastrophic failure as a result of synergistic effects of more than one damage mechanism. One of the main causes of failure in turbines is corrosion fatigue, which results from the combination of cyclic loads and corrosive environments. In the current review paper, an attempt has been made to investigate the damages related to corrosion and fatigue in turbines such as fatigue corrosion, hot corrosion and oxidation, thermomechanical fatigue, emphasizing their synergistic effect. In this regard, the mechanism of fatigue crack initiation and growth in a corrosive environment is also taken into consideration. Moreover, a summary of the results reported in the literature regarding the influence of the loading conditions, characteristics of the corrosive environment and properties of the turbine materials on this failure is presented. Finally, common methods of dealing with corrosion fatigue damage, including surface treatment and cathodic protection, are briefly reviewed.