TRIBOLOGY ACTIVITIES AT DMRL

B.Venkataraman

Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory Hyderabad-500058,India

MIAE-ARCI Meeting- 26 January 2011,Hyderabad

OVERVIEW OF TRIBOLOGY ACTIVITIES IN DMRL

Coatings for aeroengine applications Abradable (Thermal sprayed, Cellular structures) Fretting wear resistant (Thermal sprayed and PVD) Erosion and Wear resistant (Thermal sprayed carbide and oxide coatings) Solid Lubrication for aerospace applications Thin film evaluation for potential coatings for MEMS applications(Micro and Nano level tribogy) Tape Bearing characterization for aerospace applications

APPLICATION OF COATINGS IN AN AERO-ENGINE

Abradable coating for LPC casing Wear resistant coating for HPC drum and seal runners

Abradable coating for HPC and seals

ABRADABLE COATING

Com pressor Casing

Fretting wear resistant coating for blade root section

CLEARANCE

TBC for Combustion Chamber,turbine and exit nozzle

Vane

Blade

Blade

otor disc Spacer disc

ABRADABLE COATING

Pt-Al coating on turbine components for oxidation resistance

ROTOR

Challenges in Development of Tribological Coatings for Aero-Engine

No Single Coating can be used for all the components (Abradable coatings are soft composite coatings Wear and Erosion resistant coatings are hard composite coatings)
No single thermal spray technique can deposit all the coatings (Abradables are coated by air plasma spray(APS)/ fame spray while hard carbides are coated by D-Gun /HVOF) Numerous process variables involved No single Wear mode (High speed sliding and impact on abradables, Erosion and sliding on hard carbide coatings, oscillatory high stress contact on blade roots) Variety of test rigs with simulated conditions Post Coating finishing like grinding alters the coating surface properties Annealing during service conditions can alter the coating microstructure (especially in carbide coatings)

DMRL addresses these issues in a comprehensive manner

DEVELOPMENT OF THERMALLY SPRAYED COATING FOR KAVERI ENGINE

Cr3C2-20(NiCr) HVOF, 300 mm

CoNiCrAlY-15Polyester -4BN, APS, 1000 mm

CoNiCrAlY APS, 200 mm

Al-Si-20BN APS, 1000 mm

Abradable

Erosion & Wear resistance

Bond coat
CoNiCrWC APS, 200 mm

Abradable

ABADABLE TEST RIG

Fretting Wear resistance

STUDIES ON EROSION BEHAVIOUR OF CARBIDE CATINGS

Detailed characterisation of Cr3C2-20(Ni20Cr) coating vis--vis DS and HVOF processes Understand the influence of changes in microstructure and properties of the binder on the erosion behaviour Understand the effect of substrate material on the erosion response of Cr3C2-20(Ni20Cr) DS coating

SOLUTION METHODOLOGY

powder characterisation

DS deposition: Cr3C2-20(Ni20Cr) on Steel, Ni Alloy and Ti alloy substrates HVOF deposition: Cr3C2 with 20, 50 and 100 wt% Ni20Cr on Steel substrate

Annealing : 200 to 800 C 90 mins/air

Commercial powders Cr3C2-20(Ni20Cr) Cr3C2-50(Ni20Cr) Ni20Cr

Phase, Microstructure and Mechanical properties

Solid Particle Erosion at varying q

Dry abrasion tests

Correlation between microstructural properties and Erosion

Cr3C2-20(Ni20Cr) COATING
Transmission Electron Microscopy
Amorphous binder Cr7C3
[010], Cr7C3

10 mm

X-ray diffraction pattern

NiCr Cr3C2

600 nm

Bright field image

Cr7C3
Cr2O3

SAD pattern from A

Composition range within binder

Composition (at.%) Amorphous Nanocrystals C 37.450.0 33.444.8 Cr 38.445.1 33.140.3 Ni 9.420.1 22.126.3

600 nm

C loss: 9 wt%

Dark field image

SAD pattern from B

ANNEALING D-GUN Cr3C2-20(Ni20Cr) COATING

Microstructural Changes
As-sprayed Carbide
Microhardness, HV0.3

400 C Binder Ni-Cr-C

Microhardness
1250

DS sprayed Cr3C2-20(Ni20Cr) coating

1200 1150 1100 1050 1000 950 900 850

600 C
Recrystallised binder

800 C

As-sprayed

400C

600C

800C

Annealing Temperature

Indentation Fracture Toughness

5.0

Fracture toughness, MPam1/2

4.5

With Heat Treatment noticeable changes found especially within binder recrystallisation and precipitation of secondary carbides Microhardness and IFT also affected

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

As-sprayed

400C

600C

800C

Annealing Temperature, deg C

SOLID PARTICLE EROSION BEHAVIOUR

STEADY STATE EROSION OF C3C2-20(NiCr)
0.45 30o

TRANSVERSE SECTION IN WORN REGION

Volume wear loss, x 10-3 cc

0.40 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10

0 1 RT

60o 90o

40 mm At 60 impact

As-sprayed

20 mm

25 mm

600 C
2 200oC 3 400oC 4 600oC 5 800oC 6

Major microstructural features influencing erosion

Features Inter-spat boundaries Carbides As-sprayed coating Weak Strong due to sintering

The annealed coating was able to efficiently absorb the solid particle impact energy

Annealed Coating (600 C)

Mainly Primary

Primary + Secondary

Binder

Largely amorphous

Crystalline binder

HVOF Sprayed Cr3C2-50(Ni20Cr) coating Mechanical Properties

Hardness / Wp/Wt (Ductility)

1200

Steady-State Erosion rate

Silica erodent 90 impact

0.85

Nanohardness
Wp/Wt
0.80

1000

0.75

Hardness

800

0.70

Microhardness
600 0.65

Wp/Wt

400

Peak hardness

0.60

200 As-sprayed 400C 600C 800C

0.55

Annealing Temperature

0.52

Coefficient of Restitution
WC ball f : 6.32 mm V : 6.6 ms-1

0.50

Single particle impacts As-sprayed Annealed at 600 C

Coefficient of restitution

0.48

0.46

0.44

0.42

0.40 AS 400C 600C 800C

10 mm

Annealing Temperature

10 mm

ABRADABLE COATING SYSTEM

Abradables are combination

of metallic (such as Al-

Si,MCrAlY)
with

Polyester and solid

lubricants (such as hBN,bentonite or graphite)

BLADE TIP-ABRADABLE COATING INTERACTION

Interaction involves high speed impact of blade at the entry Followed by very high speed sliding

Incursion
Elastic stored energy of the particle Is released and debis ejected out Solid lubricant facilitates smooth ejection Cohesive strength should be lower than bond strength SHROUD MATERIAL

BLADE
COATING

Ideally depth of cut should match with depth of incursion

Excessive transfer of material or Blade wear is undesirable Simple pin on disc machine can not simulate this interaction

ABRADABLE TEST RIG

SOLID LUBRICANT AND LOW FRICTION COATINGS

1.0 Load : 110 N Frequency: 1.2 Hz Stroke length: 12.5 mm No. of cycles: 1000

Pin / flat
MoS2 / MoS2, unaged MoS2 / MoS2, aged MoS2 / Bare, unaged MoS2 / Bare, aged

Materials:

0.8

Sulphides (Moly,Tungtsen), Poymer based with Solid lubricant dispersion Nana Crystalline Diamond
Carbon based coatings

Coefficient of Friction

0.6

0.4

0.2

SAM
0.0

Tape bearings

200

400

600

800

1000

No. of Cycles

Applications involve very high stress ( upto25MPa)

Evolution of coefficient of friction for different pin/flat combinations with unaged and aged MoS2 films.

Norma l Load
Pin specimen Flat specimen

EVALUATION OF THIN FILMS FOR STATIC MEMS APPLICATIONS

NANO SCRATCH TEST
Penetration Depth Sensor

FN Indenter

Tangential Force Sensor

PD FT

Sample
Motion Actuator (dx/dt)

Transfer layer formation

Substrate

Nano Hardness, GPa

Substrate Si3N4 film 11.3

Critical load, mN
R: 5 mm 15 R: 10 mm 40.6

Coating failure stress GPa

6.3

GaAs

8-10

Si

12-14

14.8

32

85

9.7

FACILITIES
Present Sliding Wear Tribometer- Macro, Micro and Nano Fretting and Reciprocating wear (At high stresses and high temperature upto 873K) Nano indenter AFM Micro and nanoscratch Erosion and abrasion Static indentation Facility Dynamic Indentation High Velocity Gas Gun (upto 3500m/s)

To be set up in near future High Temperature instrumented micro indentation High Enthalpy High Velocity Plasma Arc Heater Universal Tribometer (upto 1273K, Vacuum)