Improvements in Gas Turbine Performance via Novel Plasma Spray Coatings offering Protection against Ingested Species

该项目将涉及三个研究团队之间的广泛合作，两个在英国，一个在印度。这三个小组的专门知识和设施具有很强的互补性，共同构成了应对拟议方案挑战的一套独特的适当资源。此外，三个具有高度相关技术背景和兴趣的行业合作伙伴将积极参与研究。合作伙伴之间将进行广泛的样本和人员交流，以传播技术专长并促进试验方案。这项工作将涉及制造业发展的一个重要领域，即改善燃气轮机发动机(用于推进和发电)保护陶瓷涂层的性能。特别是，拟议的研究将有助于更好地了解摄入的物种(如沙、灰、盐等)可能导致这些涂层降解和脱粘的机理，并评估一些有希望的对策(以前没有为此进行过调查)。涂层将通过等离子喷涂生产，这是一种先进的制造技术，由几个合作伙伴使用，合作伙伴还将提供该工艺的新变种。实验工作还将包括使用小型喷气发动机来调查吸入的颗粒在涡轮机内的基质上的粘附性，并辅之以广泛的模拟研究。

This project will involve extensive collaboration between three teams of researchers, two in the UK and one in India. The expertise and facilities of the three teams are highly complementary and together constitute a uniquely appropriate set of resources to tackle the challenges of the proposed programme. In addition, three industrial partners, all with highly relevant technical background and interests, will be actively engaged in the research. There will be extensive exchanges of samples and personnel between the partners, designed to disseminate technical expertise and facilitate the experimental programme. The work will concern an important area of manufacturing development, namely improvement of the performance of protective ceramic coatings in gas turbine engines (for both propulsion and power generation). In particular, the proposed research will lead to improved understanding of the mechanisms by which ingested species (such as sand, ash, salt etc) can cause degradation and debonding of these coatings, and also to evaluation of some promising counter-measures (which have not previously been investigated for this purpose). The coatings will be produced by plasma spraying, an advanced manufacturing technique used by several of the partners, with novel variants of the process also being available within the partnership. Experimental work will also encompass the use of a small jet engine to investigate the adhesion of ingested particulate on substrates within the turbine, complemented by extensive modelling studies.