“TECNALIA offers advanced solutions for failure prevention and efficient maintenance of key components in the industry”
Success story: TECNALIA solves blade breakage in high-pressure steam turbine
Our materials engineering team has a new success story in the analysis and diagnosis of failures in critical components. A customer contacted us due to the breakage of several blades of a high-pressure steam turbine, which compromised the safety and efficiency of their operations. The type of failure identified was due to mechanical fatigue and corrosion.
Analysis and diagnosis of critical component failure
The analysis focused on blades made of uncoated X22CrMoV12.1 stainless steel. The materials engineering team conducted a thorough analysis of the causes of breakage, diagnosed that the failure was due to a mechanical fatigue mechanism. This fatigue was accelerated by the presence of pitting corrosion, which significantly reduced the fatigue strength of the material.
The corrosion was due to aggressive feed steam on the blade material; the presence of chlorides and possibly an alkaline character of the steam caused pitting nucleation in the stainless steel.
Thanks to the team’s accurate diagnosis, the customer was able to put in place the necessary corrective measures to prevent future failures, ensuring greater durability and safety of their equipment.
