抄録
Advanced silicon nitride components have been designed and tested in industrial gas turbines to assess the superiority of their thermomechanical performance versus metallic alloy counterparts. The Ceramic Stationary Gas Turbine development program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, at Solar Turbines has sought to increase the experience base for ceramic components and their behavior in gas turbine environments. The goals of this program were to improve engine performance (fuel efficiency and output power) and reduce exhaust NOx and CO emissions. Numerous field tests were carried out with either silicon nitride blades or vanes. In April 2001 a gas turbine engine test with full sets of both ceramic blades and vanes was successfully conducted for 100h at a turbine rotor inlet temperature of 1121°C. This paper provides a summary of the characterization of microstructure and mechanical characteristics of the silicon nitride blades and vanes after exposure in the engine test.
