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New Materials Enable Unprecedented
Improvement in Turbine Performance
Robin Schwant
I
n North America, renewable power sources
GE Power & Water and gas turbines are often in the news, but
Schenectady, N.Y. globally, steam turbines generate the largest
portion of electricity, and they will remain a
Chen Shen and predominant power-generation technology
Monica Soare for many decades. Because steam turbines
GE Global Research represent a preponderance of our power-gen-
Schenectady, N.Y. eration base, it is essential to continue to drive
turbine technology development. Until now,
the main technical barrier limiting large effi-
The power
ciency improvements was the temperature
industry is constraint imposed by available materials.
poised to make Today, the game is changing. Due to advance-
the biggest ments in materials, we now have a chance to
leap in make unprecedented improvements in steam
turbine power plant efficiency by raising the
steam-turbine inlet temperature hundreds of degrees. Heat
efficiency in rate improvements of 8% relative to the best
over 100 years current turbine configurations appear to be
by moving to possible; this in a world where 0.1% improve-
new tailored ment is considered an achievement. This large
efficiency improvement translates to a 20% re-
superalloys. duction in emissions and fuel costs relative to
the best current technology, and a 40% reduc-
tion relative to the fleet of installed coal-fired
power plants.
The next generation of steam turbines,
called advanced ultrasupercritical (A-USC)
Advanced ultrasupercritical steam turbine with 1400F superalloy inlet. Courtesy of GE
Power & Water.
18 ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES JANUARY 2013
turbines, will use nickel-base superalloys to
enable inlet steam temperatures up to 1400F.
Use of these superalloys was developed in the
U.S. in two parallel programs[1-3] for turbines
and boilers supported by the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) and the Ohio Coal Develop-
ment Office (OCDO). Other programs in Eu-
rope[4] and Asia[5] have also looked to
superalloys to upgrade turbine configurations.
Both solid solution-strengthened and age-
hardened superalloys have been considered.
Early programs in Europe opted for solution
annealed alloys to enable easier joining of
major constituents such as rotor components.
With regard to rotors, GE elected to use a
built-up structure modeled after highly suc-
cessful F-Class gas turbines. Built-up struc-
tures avoid challenging superalloy-to-steel
welds in critical rotating components. This ap-
proach also limits the weight of rotor forgings
to less than 4000 lb, taking advantage of the
fact that superalloy foundry and metalwork-
ing equipment was created to
produce relatively small aircraft engine parts.
This choice allowed GE to move directly to
age-hardened alloys that can operate at tem-
peratures 100F or more higher than solution-
annealed superalloys to achieve a 2% better
heat rate, thus getting more value from the use
of these expensive materials.
In the past, chemical segregation and high
resistance to forging deformation inhibited
production of large superalloy components,
but this is no longer a problem. Techniques pi-
oneered in gas-turbine technology can be
used to make high-firing steam turbines, be-
cause the sizes of the hottest steam turbine
components are actually smaller than those in
gas turbines, despite the large overall size of a
steam turbine. Rotor disks, for instance, are
significantly smaller, at only half the diameter
and less than 15% of the mass of the largest gas
turbine disks. These parts are within the ca-
pacity of many melting and forging facilities.
Superalloy castings will only be used for par-
tial inner casings of high-pressure and reheat
sections. It is not necessary to use superalloys
for the large outer casing sizes observed in a
power plant.
A-USC turbine materials
Although use of superalloys in steam tur-
bines is similar to that in gas turbines, there
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Table 1 NOMINAL CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF TURBINE SUPERALLOYS

Element, wt%
Alloy Ni* Cr Co Mo Ti Al Cb Fe Mn Si C B
Inconel 740 49 25 20 0.5 1.4 1.4 1.5 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.03 0.001
Haynes 282 57 19.5 10 8.5 2.1 1.5 1.5** 0.3** 0.15** 0.06 0.005
Nimonic 105 53 15 20 5 1.2 4.7 1.0** 1.0** 1.0** 0.12** 0.005
625 65 21.5 9 0.4** 0.4** 3.6 0.5** 0.5** 0.5** 0.07
617 54 22 12 9 0.3 1.2 1.0** 1.0** 1.0** 0.1 0.006**
* Balance. ** Maximum.

are differences. Steam turbines present a more Fig. 1 Triple-melted

difficult challenge because they operate for (VIM-ESR-VAR) 24-in.
diameter Haynes 282 alloy
longer periods without inspection or compo- ingot.
nent replacement. However, this is counter-
balanced by lower loads and fewer, less severe
starts, which inflict low cycle fatigue damage.
With a peak steam temperature of 1400F, A-
USC steam turbines operate in an environ-
ment well below the 3000F maximum gas
temperature of an advanced gas turbine. How-
ever, a steam-turbine rotor still operates at a
higher inlet metal temperature than a gas-tur-
bine rotor. Therefore, superalloys with pro-
50 Strain rate
ducibility characteristics similar to
0.001/sec
gas-turbine alloys 706 and 718 are desired, but
they must have enhanced high temperature 40 0.01/sec
capabilities. Alloys like Inconel 740, Haynes 0.1/sec
True stress, ksi

282, and Nimonic 105 stand out as candidates

30 1/sec
for the hottest regions of the turbine. Other
more traditional alloys like 625 and 617 can be 3.2/sec
used at intermediate temperatures up to about 20 Fig. 2 Forging
1300F. Nominal chemical compositions of flow stresses of
these alloys are shown in Table 1. Haynes 282 alloy
10 at 2000F.
Inconel 740, pioneered by the 1400F Boiler
Materials Consortium[2], is a good choice for
piping in the turbine. The alloy was recently ap- 0
proved in ASME Boiler Code Case 2702 for ap- 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
plications at temperatures to 1472F. Enhanced True strain, in./in.
chemical composition coupled with extensive
welding trials and anticipated supplier expan- Haynes 282 appears to be a viable alloy for
sion for boiler applications make this a well-de- many applications including forgings, cast-
veloped material choice. Inconel 740 is stronger ings, and fabrications. It is currently being
than piping alloys proposed outside the U.S., scaled up to produce rotor disks. Studies sug-
enabling either higher operating temperatures gest that segregation should not be a problem,
or significantly less expensive piping and pip- but 24-in. diameter triple melted (VIM-ESR-
ing support systems. Inconel 740 is also more VAR) ingots (Fig. 1) are currently undergoing
formable, allowing a single large pipe run to be evaluation for chemical uniformity to validate
used in place of the more expensive alternative expectations.
of two smaller pipes made of a less capable Evaluation of these ingots follows an estab-
alloy. lished process used to scale up other superal-

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES JANUARY 2013 19

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reap additional savings as a turbine piping

120 IN 740 alloy, because it is slightly stronger than In-
conel 740 at elevated temperatures, and the
Nimonic 105 hot corrosion resistance of Inconel 740 re-
100
0.2% yield strength, ksi

Haynes 282
quired for an A-USC boiler is not needed in
the turbine.
80
617 Steam-turbine buckets (blades) are
complex, critical components, but their rela-
60 625
tively small size (a few inches long) increases
processing and material options relative to
40 larger components. Superalloy blades for gas turbines
have been in production for half a century. Advanced gas-
20 turbine blades are made by investment casting, but
steam-turbine blades, which do not require internal cool-
ing passages or a directionally oriented grain structure,
0
0 500 1000 1500 can be made using either less complex casting methods or
Temperature, F a wrought process. Wrought processing can heal voids
and enable improved ultrasonic inspection, but casting
to shape eliminates difficult machining challenges associ-
50
ated with superalloys and avoids waste of expensive ma-
Nimonic 105 terial. A wrought variant of alloy 625 is already used for
Haynes 282 the hottest stages of current steam turbines and can be
40
used to still higher temperatures in an A-USC turbine.
IN 740 However, Haynes 282 and Nimonic 105 will be used at
625 the highest operating temperatures because of their en-
Stress, ksi

30
hanced resistance to high temperature loads. In addition
617 to its possible use in buckets, Nimonic 105 also appears to
20 be a good candidate for high temperature bolting.

10
0 is no drop off in property levels relative to proven lower
1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600
Temperature, F
Fig. 3 Comparison of yield strength and creep rupture properties of
alloys selected for 1400F operation: (top) 0.2% yield strength; (bottom)
100,000 h creep rupture strength.
loys, where a range of melt rates and melting process
transitions are evaluated to assure a robust melting
process window. Triple melting rather than double melt-
ing (VIM-ESR) was chosen to control carbides that can
potentially reduce ductility and fatigue properties. Forg-
ing flow stress values for Haynes 282 (Fig. 2) suggest that
hot working will not be an issue.
Superalloys are usually cast under vacuum or beneath
a protective slag because of the high reactivity of alu-
minum and titanium hardening elements with oxygen.
However, there may be other ways to cast superalloys.
Trials[6] performed under inert shrouding gas by DOEs
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) pro-
duced sound castings of Nimonic 105, alloy 263, and
Haynes 282, with desirable microstructures, good homo-
geneity, no significant defects, and excellent mechanical
properties. Haynes 282 was conceived with weldability in
mind[7], so upgrade and attachment welds are not an
issue. Because of its good weldability, it can be used to
Material properties
Properties of alloys selected for 1400F operation are
equal to or higher than the properties of alloys used for
current lower temperature configurations. Because there
temperature arrangements, traditional safety margins can
be maintained at 1400F. All alloys identified above have
similar good low cycle fatigue properties. Differences arise
in tensile and creep properties. Figure 3 shows a compari-
son of yield strength and creep rupture properties.
Studies show that the main materials under con-
sideration for A-USC applications are thermally stable.
Haynes 282 was formulated to avoid formation of TCP
(topologically close packed) phases[8], which can degrade
strength and ductility over time. Small g particles, which
provide high temperature strength, coarsen slowly and pre-
dictably.
Aging experiments were used to obtain data to estab-
lish particle size distribution through thermodynamic and
kinetic models that nucleate and grow the particles, as
shown for Haynes 282 in Fig. 4. Advanced simulation tech-
niques offer even richer information such as particle shape
and spatial distribution (Fig. 4c), which can be taken into
account in creep and fatigue modeling. Creep models
based on microstructure coarsening behavior match meas-
ured performance for Haynes 282 (Fig. 5).
Whats next?
A-USC technology is ready for demonstration in the

20 ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES JANUARY 2013

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(b)

(a)

Fig. 4 Coarsening of
strengthening particles
in Haynes 282 alloy
during aging studies:
(a) mean size; (b)
comparison of particle
size distributions; and
(c) particle morphology
and spatial distribution
from phase field
simulations and
experiments.

(c)

both the U.S. and Europe. However, it appears that

35 ksi 32.5 ksi
the first applications of A-USC technology will occur 37.5 ksi
in China and India. Both countries set goals to erect 27.5 ksi
full-scale demonstration plants by 2020. These coun-
tries have a strong will to succeed, but face supply
chain challenges. Chinas forge presses may have suf-
Strain, in./in. @ 1425F

ficient capacity to produce the built-up rotor config- 10-2

uration described here, but China has not indicated 17.5 ksi
what type of rotor they will produce. Initially, India
will purchase critical superalloy components outside
15 ksi
the country, providing opportunities for traditional
superalloy manufacturers.
10-4

Summary
The power industry is poised to make the
biggest leap in steam turbine efficiency in over 100
years by moving to new superalloys tailored for the
application. Previous component size barriers have 0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10,000 12,000
been eliminated by crafting components that fit Time, h
existing aero superalloy-production facilities. Un-
certainty associated with unvalidated superalloy- Fig. 5 Creep strain prediction verses measured values for Haynes 282 alloy.
to-steel welds is avoided by using a strategy that
does not require welds in rotating components. Alloy carbon dioxide emissions, and stimulation of high tech-
property levels at operating temperatures up to 1400F nology industries.
match properties achieved in standard materials for es-
tablished lower temperature configurations, eliminating Inconel 740 and Nimonic 105 are registered trademarks of
pressure to compromise traditional safety margins. Use Special Metals Corp. Haynes 282 is a registered trademark of
of new high-temperature materials in advanced ultrasu- Haynes International Inc.
percritical steam turbines will benefit the world through References
reduced use of critical fuels, corresponding reduction in 1. J. Shingledecker, et al., U.S. Program on Advanced Ultrasu-

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES JANUARY 2013 21

jan amp features_am&p master template new QX6.qxt 12/18/2012 5:38 PM Page 22
percritical Power Plant Materials The Economy of Using Ad-
vanced Alloys, IEA Clean Coal Centre Workshop: Advanced
Ultrasupercritical Coal-Fired Power Plants Vienna, Austria,
Sept. 1920, 2012.
2. R. Viswanathan and J. Shingledecker, Evaluating Materials
Technology for Advanced Ultrasupercritical Coal-Fired
Plants, Power Magazine, Aug., 2010.
3. U.S. DOE and Ohio Coal Development Office Advanced
Ultra-Supercritical Materials Project for Boilers and Steam
Turbines: Summary of Results; March, 2011, http://my.epri.
com/portal/server.pt?Abstract_id=000000000001022770.
4. IEA Clean Coal Centre Workshop: Advanced Ultrasuper-
critical Coal-Fired Power Plants Vienna, Austria, Sept. 1920,
2012.
5. F. Masuyama, R&D Program for A-USC Material Develop-
ment with Creep Strength/Degradation Assessment Studies,
6th Intl. Conf. on Advances in Materials Technology for Fos-
sil Power Plants 2010: D. Gandy, J. Shingledecker, and R.
Viswanathan, Eds., EPRI/ASM Intl., Materials Park, Ohio,
2011.
6. P. Jablonski, et al., Processing of Advanced Alloys for A-USC
Steam Turbine Applications, 6th Intl. Conf. on Advances in
Materials Technology for Fossil Power Plants 2010: D.
Gandy, J. Shingledecker, and R. Viswanathan, Eds., EPRI/ASM
Intl., Materials Park, Ohio, 2011.
7. L.M. Pike, Development of a Fabricable Gamma-Prime ()
Strengthened Superalloy; Superalloys 2008.
8. L.M. Pike, Long Term Thermal Exposure of Haynes 282
Alloy; 7th Intl. Symp. on 718 and Derivatives, TMS, 2010.
22 ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES JANUARY 2013
Acknowledgement: The authors gratefully acknowledge the
support of the Department of Energy, National Energy Tech-
nology Laboratory for their support under Award Numbers
DE-FE0005859 and DE-FE0000234 and the Ohio Coal Devel-
opment Office for their support under Ohio Air Quality Au-
thority Grant Agreement Number D-05-02(B).
Disclaimer: This report was prepared as an account of work
sponsored by an agency of the U.S. Government and an
agency of the State of Ohio. Neither the U.S. Government nor
any agency thereof, nor the State of Ohio, nor any agency
thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, ex-
press or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibil-
ity for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any
information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or rep-
resents that its use would not infringe privately owned
rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product,
process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or
otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorse-
ment, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Government
or any agency thereof or of the State of Ohio or any agency
thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein
do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. Govern-
ment or any agency thereof of the State of Ohio or any agency
thereof.
For more information: Jeff Breznak, email: jeff.breznak@ge.
com.