Based on the strive toward a more sustainable energy and resource usage system for the future, these machines (for propulsion and power generation) will continue to play a central role. But there is a strong need for making them more efficient than today, which calls for higher combustion temperatures.
Deformation and life assessment models for cyclic operation
With the increasing amount of renewable energy sources, the running profile of the stationary power-generating machines will change to more cyclic operation, as they will be used for balancing the power grid. In this context, material characterization and deformation and life assessment models are of great importance, as is more efficient coatings for heat insulation and corrosion protection.
Close collaboration with industry
These issues have been studied, in close collaboration with our industrial partners, including Siemens and GKN, within a number of research projects/programs, and have generated a large number of PhD:s and numerous scientific publications.
In detail, by a combination of testing, microscopy/characterization and modeling, the plastic, creep, fatigue crack initiation, fatigue crack propagation and aging behavior have been studied for disc, blade and combustion chamber materials in gas turbines, as well as the Thermo-Mechanical Fatigue behavior of Thermal Barrier Coatings, with the aim that the developed models not only shall be able to describe the observed behavior, but also to be simple enough to be used in industrial applications.
