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Thermo-mechanical Fatigue Failure of a Low-Pressure Turbine Blade in a Turbofan Engine

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Abstract

This paper concerns a failure analysis case study of low-pressure turbine blades in an aero-engine. The operational condition of the engine was studied, and metallurgical investigations were carried out on two fractured blades. The failure in one blade originated at the leading edge, while in another it originated at the trailing edge then propagated in the forward direction. The crack propagation region showed mixed mode fractographic characteristics before the final failure. The mixed mode region was considered indicative of a thermo-mechanical fatigue propagation mode. Surface analysis of the blades indicated oxidation of variant thicknesses including oxide-filled intergranular cracks and grain boundary thickening beneath the oxide layer. It is considered more probable that the mechanism was more oxidation and fatigue dominated as opposed to creep-related.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification, Bangalore, 560037, India

    R. K. Mishra

  2. Central Material Processing Laboratory, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore, India

    Nandi Vaishakhi & R. Raghavendra Bhatt

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  1. R. K. Mishra
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  2. Nandi Vaishakhi
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  3. R. Raghavendra Bhatt
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Correspondence to R. K. Mishra.

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Mishra, R.K., Vaishakhi, N. & Bhatt, R.R. Thermo-mechanical Fatigue Failure of a Low-Pressure Turbine Blade in a Turbofan Engine. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 18, 233–240 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-018-0408-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-018-0408-6

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