Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199

Application of eutectic composites to gas turbine system

and fundamental fracture properties up to 1700 ◦C
Kazumi Hirano∗
Advanced Materials and Structural Integrity Research Group, Institute of Mechanical Systems Engineering, National Institute
of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Namiki 1-2-1, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305-8564, Japan

Available online 8 March 2005

Abstract

Single crystal eutectic composites have recently been researched and developed as the bulk materials. They are generally expected to be
the most interesting and attractive as the high temperature, environmental resistant structural material in the field of aeronautics, aerospace
and power generator technologies. They have high temperature strength characteristics, high creep and oxidation resistance as well as the
fairly good machinability and manufacturability. An overview provides explain the National project of application of eutectic composites for
1700 ◦ C-class gas turbine system that does not require thermal and environmental barrier coatings. Pure mode-I and -II, mixed-mode fracture
toughness are investigated up to 1700 ◦ C in air to determine materials reliability and also discussed fatigue crack growth characteristics in
relation to materials durability. Key technical issues are summarized with prospects for a wide practical application.
© 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Composites; Engine components; Fracture; Toughness and toughening; Technical issues for application

1. Introduction cal issues for a practical application. It is still necessary for

the further research to search new eutectic composites and
Recently, single crystal eutectic composites have been re- to improve the materials reliability and durability. Binary to
searched and developed as the bulk materials1,2 as well as ternary eutectic composite is considered to be one of the pos-
the reinforcement fibers.3 They are generally expected to sibilities to improve materials performances.
be the most interesting and attractive as the high tempera- This paper briefly explains the National project of appli-
ture, environmental resistant structural material in the field cation of eutectic composites for 1700 ◦ C-class gas turbine
of aeronautics, aerospace and power generator technologies. system4 that does not require thermal and environmental bar-
They have many potentialities that the flexural and tensile rier coatings (TBC and EBC). Pure mode-I and -II, mixed-
strength are maintained right below the melting point tem- mode (I + II) fracture toughness are determined to assess the
perature mainly due to fine phases interfaces, increases with mixed-mode fracture criterion up to 1700 ◦ C in air. Fatigue
decreasing of a characteristic dimension of the network mi- crack growth characteristics are also presented in relation to
crostructure without the reduction of creep resistance and materials durability. Some technical key issues are summa-
plastically deformed over approximately 1550 ◦ C. They also rized with prospects for a wide practical application.
show a fairly good machinability and manufacturability of
complex shape structural components in comparison with
conventional sintered engineering ceramics. However, low
2. Application to gas turbine system
fracture toughness and thermal shock resistance originally
resulted from the oxide/oxide composite are critical techni-
From FY1998 to FY2000, feasibility studies5 had already
finished on (1) search for new MGC (Melt Growth Composite
∗ Tel.: +81 298 61 7066 fax: +81 298 61 7853. was firstly named by Prof. K. Suzuki, former director gen-
E-mail address: [email protected]. eral of Institute of Materials Science at Tohoku University

0955-2219/$ – see front matter © 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2005.01.003
1192 K. Hirano / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199

Fig. 1. Research targets components for gas turbine.4

and fundamentally almost the same to single crystal eutectic overall pressure ratio of 30, (3) turbine inlet temperature
◦
composite) and improvements for materials performance, (2) (TIT) of 1700 C, (4) non-cooled MGC turbine nozzle, (5)
possibility of low-cost processing and manufacturing tech- lower NOx emission than 25 ppm (15% O2 ) and (6) MGC
nologies for large complex, near-net shaped components, (3) combustor liner panel (see Fig. 1). In order to realize these
aero-mechanical design methodology for gas turbine compo- research targets, it focuses on two major R&D themes, first
nents based on computer fluid dynamic (CFD) and (4) prelim- is, gas turbine system integration technology.
inary turbine cycle analysis and system integration technol-
ogy. Then, five-years national project, that is, NEDO Project - Total MGC gas turbine system and cycle analysis
on MGC Applied Gas Turbine System had been started under - MGC turbine nozzle and vane
the sponsorships of Ministry of Economic, Trade and Indus- - Low NOx emission combustor with MGC liner panels
tries (METI) from FY2001.4
Final targets of this research project are summarized as Second is innovative, breakthrough processing and man-
follows: (1) gas turbine output power of 5000 kW-class, (2) ufacturing technology.

Fig. 2. Gas turbine performance curve as a function of specific power.6

 K. Hirano / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199 1193

- Near-net shape casting of complex shape components level in order to ensure the structural integrity under the
- Improvements of materials reliability and durability under steady state and thermal cycle conditions.
simulated severe environments (highly water vapor pres-
surized at high temperatures) 2.2. Developments of low NOx emission combustor with
MGC panels
MGC applied turbine nozzle and combustor have prelim-
inary been designed and determined the overall structure of MGC panel attachments to combustor liner were designed.
the total gas turbine system. On the assumption that thermal The structural integrity was first verified on the basis of tran-
barrier coating/environmental barrier coating (TBC/EBC) sient thermal stresses analysis. It has also been determined the
coated metal-based turbine blade can be available, it has been staging combustor configuration for low NOx emission on the
confirmed the possibility of the realization of the 1700 ◦ C- basis of numerical fuel flow analysis. These computer simula-
class MGC gas turbine system. Turbine cycle analysis has tions suggest that the axial swirling method was prospected
also been done. The gas turbine performance curve is shown to be lower pressure-loss and better mixing in air and fuel
in Fig. 2 as a function of specific power. It can be seen from flows rather than the radial swirling. Combustion tests at a
this figure that compared to current gas turbine for electric level of 1400 ◦ C had already carried out by using the model
power, the possibility of approximately maximum 9% effi- combustor (see Fig. 4).7 It is confirmed that the fuel nozzle
ciency improvement can be prospected by applying MGC achieved to low NOx emission level of 8 ppm (15% O2 ). Now,
materials to non-cooled turbine nozzle at TIT of 1700 ◦ C and it has planned to continue the combustion tests up to 1700 ◦ C
overall pressure ratio of 30. 6 level.

2.1. Developments of MGC turbine nozzle and vane 2.3. Innovative, breakthrough processing and
manufacturing technology
The three-pieces separated, non-uniform-thickness
hollow-type turbine nozzle was designed and manufactured The most important to control the microstructures for eu-
by ultrasonic machining from a round-bar Al2 O3 /GAP tectic composites is temperature gradient in the heating and
eutectic composite as shown in Fig. 3.7 The turbine nozzle the melting zones, in particular at the solid–liquid interface
firstly was examined in hot gas flow test at a maximum during the process. A large Bridgman-type furnace was newly
temperature level of 1400 ◦ C. Under the steady-state, maxi- designed and developed to accurately control many materials
mum thermal stress generated at pressure side was estimated process parameters. Using this new large equipment, the tem-
from temperature distribution, and successfully reduced at perature of both the melting zone and the solidified zone are
approximately 0.431 to ultimate materials strength. In this independently controlled, and successfully kept at a constant
hot gas flow test, the structural integrity of the separated the temperature gradient at the solid–liquid interface by heat
turbine nozzle was also ensured during heating and cooling insulator.
conditions. The 1700 ◦ C-level nozzle rig has been improved The near-net shape casting methodology has been re-
to continuously measure the temperature distributions on the searched and developed. An example is shown in Fig. 5 for
nozzle surface by using infrared cameras. It has just planned the casting mold and core for turbine nozzle.7 Molybdenum
to conduct the test at the inlet gas temperature of 1700 ◦ C was chosen as the most suitable material for casting mold

Fig. 3. Reduction of thermal stress by the separated hollow-type turbine nozzle.7

1194 K. Hirano / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199

Fig. 4. Schematics of MGC panel attachments to combustor liner.7

and core on the basis of thermal expansion coefficient and 2.4. Evaluation of materials reliability and mid-term
thermal stability. Turbine nozzle core made of copper was durability
treated by plasma spaying coating method.
It has also been modeled and simulated the casting process Thermal stability of microstructure and residual strength
by computer in order to optimize process parameters for near- characteristics are also examined in relation to the materi-
net shape casting. The computer simulations were expected als reliability and mid-term durability (approximately few
to be useful to accurately control the overall temperature of thousands hours). SEM examinations of microstructures are
the large Bridgman-type furnace. These are also contributed shown in Fig. 6 after exposure at 1700 ◦ C in air for 250 h.7
to establish the near-net shape casting methodology. These are typical results for Al2 O3 /YAG and Al2 O3 /GAP
eutectic composites. After the exposure for 500 h, there
are no microstructure changes and no reduction in resid-
ual flexural strength. These eutectic composites show good
thermal stability and residual strength characteristics. Also,
MGC components show excellent mid-term oxidation re-
sistance and there are no changes in weight, shape and di-
mensions of components after exposure at 1700 ◦ C in air for
500 h.
Hot corrosion resistance has also been investigated at
1700 ◦ C in addition to 30 wt.% moisture environments. No
weight-loss and no strength-reduction were observed even
after exposure for 10 h. The MGC materials fundamen-
tally displayed very superior hot corrosion resistance. The
details of materials reliability and mid-term durability as
well as innovative, breakthrough processing and manufac-
turing technology also includes computer simulation of the
casting process were presented at Directionally Solidified
Eutectic Ceramics Workshop (held on May 5–7, 2003 in
Fig. 5. Examples of casting mold and core for turbine nozzle.7 Paris).8–11
 K. Hirano / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199 1195

Fig. 6. SEM examinations of microstructures after exposure at 1700 ◦ C in air for 250 h.7

3. Fracture toughness 3.2. Temperature dependence of mode-I fracture

toughness
3.1. Improvement of fracture toughness by ternary
eutectic composite Pure mode-I and -II, mixed-mode (I + II) fracture tough-
ness testing were performed for Al2 O3 /YAG binary eutectic
Fig. 7 shows two-parameter Weibull’s plots of fracture composite according to chevron-notched (CN) diametrical
toughness determined according to the indentation frac- compression test method13–15 up to 1700 ◦ C in air. The test
ture (IF) method for Al2 O3 /YAG/ZrO2 ternary eutectic method has an advantage that is simple and applicable to high
composite. Similar results for Al2 O3 /YAG binary eutectic temperature ranges. Mode-I fracture toughness KIC are plot-
composite12 show that there is a remarkable orientation de- ted as a function of test temperature in Fig. 8 .16 It is found that
pendency and large scatter in fracture toughness at every fracture toughness also depends on test method and there is a
plane. The fracture toughness is lower for the samples par- little bit of a variation. Room temperature fracture toughness
allel to the solidification direction than perpendicular di- is ranging from 2.5 to 4.0 MPa m1/2 . By considering these
rection. Fundamentally, fracture toughness for YAG phase scatter band, fracture toughness are nearly constant and there
is lower than Al2 O3 phase. Fine interfaces have little in- is no temperature dependence up to 1700 ◦ C. It is due to no
fluence on fracture toughness. Low fracture toughness is drastic transition in fracture mechanism. It is almost the same
predominantly controlled by YAG phase in the microstruc- to the temperature dependency of flexural and tensile strength
tures. characteristics. It is also found that fracture toughness in air
Mean value of fracture toughness was approximately 1.3 has a tendency to be slightly lower than in vacuum.
times larger in comparison with Al2 O3 /YAG binary eutec- Why is the mode-I fracture toughness for Al2 O3 /YAG
tic composite. Shape parameter m value of the Weibull’s eutectic composite independent of temperature? Fracture
distribution is also large, and the scatter in fracture tough- toughness for single crystal Al2 O3 , that is, sapphire rapidly
ness is less than that for binary eutectic composite. It is decreases from 4.5 (RT) to 1.0 MPa m1/2 (1000 ◦ C) and
concluded here that the materials reliability was improved then slightly increases to around 1.5 MPa m1/2 with increas-
by ternary eutectic composite. It is also very interesting ing of test temperature as shown in Fig. 9. These are also
that there is a quite difference in orientation dependency identical to the experimental results determined accord-
between binary and ternary eutectic composites, and frac- ing to the controlled surface flaw method.17 On the other
ture toughness is not always to be lowest in parallel to hand, it had already reported that single crystal YAG in-
the solidification direction for ternary eutectic compos- creases with test temperature from 2.2 MPa m1/2 (RT) to
ites. 4.5 MPa m1/2 (1600 ◦ C) in air.18 That is to say, temperature
1196 K. Hirano / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199

Fig. 9. Temperature dependency of fracture toughness for sapphire.

interaction of each phase. It is just a phenomenological ex-

planation. It should be noted here that the plastic deformation
capability of eutectic composites is not always contributed to
improve fracture toughness even at 1700 ◦ C.

3.3. Mixed-mode fracture toughness and fracture

criterion

Mixed-mode fracture toughness testing shows that pure

mode-II fracture toughness KIIC is larger than KIC . The
Fig. 7. Orientation dependency and variation characteristics of fracture
toughness for Al2 O3 /YAG/ZrO2 ternary eutectic composite.
KIIC /KIC ratio for Al2 O3 /YAG binary eutectic composite is
around 2.18 at 1500 ◦ C. Also, there is a slight difference in
macroscopic fracture manner between pure mode-I and pure
dependencies offset each other and consequently KIC for sin-
mode-II loading as shown in Fig. 10a and b. Pure mode-II
gle crystal Al2 O3 /YAG binary eutectic composite results in
exhibits significantly more debris and increased roughness
a constant regardless of test temperature up to 1700 ◦ C, al-
on fracture surface. The higher mode-II fracture toughness is
though the ductile fracture pattern is partially observed over
related to crack-shielding effect due to roughness of fracture
1550 ◦ C. It is also very interesting that fracture toughness
surface. However, fracture was predominately controlled by
for Al2 O3 /YAG eutectic composite can be quantitatively pre-
quasi-cleavage fracture. It should be noted here that mode-I
dicted on the basis of the following rule of mixture (ROM).
stress component at crack tip controlled fracture even under


Al2 O3 the macroscopically mode-II loading condition.
KIC = KIC (Al2 O3 )V + KIC (YAG)(1 − V ) (1) The KIIC /KIC ratio is larger than 1.0. Consequently, mixed-
YAG
mode fracture toughness cannot be predicted by strain-energy
where V is volume fraction of Al2 O3 phase. Also, Eq. (1) release rate (KIIC /KIC = 0.816), maximum hoop-stress (0.87)
does not take into account the nature of the interfaces and and strain–energy–density criteria (1.054). Here, the follow-
ing empirical formulae were applied to predict the mixed-
mode fracture toughness.



KI KII 2
+ =1 (2)
KIC CKIC



KI m KII n
+ =1 (3)
KIC KIIC
where C is KIIC /KIC ratio. Fundamentally, Eqs. (2) and (3)
also provide fairly good fits to the experimental data. There
is no significant difference in these empirical formulae. One
example of experimental results is shown in Fig. 11. Eq. (3)
provides good fits to the data on Al2 O3 /YAG eutectic compos-
ite, sintered poly-crystal Al2 O3 ceramic and sapphire spec-
Fig. 8. Mode-I fracture toughness KIC as a function of test temperature. imens with the constants m = n = 4 (1500 ◦ C), 2 (1300 ◦ C)
 K. Hirano / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199 1197

Fig. 10. SEM examinations of fracture surface (a) pure mode-I loading and (b) pure mode-II loading.

of the energy release rate criterion with m = n = 2. It is also

surprised that sapphire fitted with m = n = 1. It is well-known
that sapphire has a strong orientation dependency of fracture
toughness.17 This may be resulted from anisotropic proper-
ties.

4. Fatigue crack growth resistance

Fatigue crack growth resistance had already investigated

in relation to materials durability.5 The relationships between
fatigue crack growth rate da/dN (a is crack length and N is
fatigue cycle) and maximum stress intensity factor Kmax are
shown in Fig. 12 for Al2 O3 /YAG binary eutectic composite.
Tests were conducted by four-point bending test at room tem-
Fig. 11. Prediction of mixed-mode fracture toughness. Exponential m and perature. The dotted line shows sintered poly-crystal Al2 O3
n values are defined in Eq. (3). ceramic.19 The da/dN − Kmax relationship can be followed
by Paris law in R–L direction (parallel to solidification di-
and 1 (1500 ◦ C), respectively. The exponential m and n val- rection). The m value as determined from slope in log–log
ues of Al2 O3 /YAG eutectic composite are larger than those diagram is slightly smaller than that for sintered Al2 O3 ce-
of sintered Al2 O3 ceramic and sapphire. The sintered poly- ramic. Fatigue crack growth resistance is lower at low Kmax
crystal Al2 O3 specimen fitted very closely to the predictions near the threshold region and higher at high Kmax region.

Fig. 12. Relationships between fatigue crack growth rate da/dN and maximum stress intensity factor Kmax .
1198 K. Hirano / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 25 (2005) 1191–1199

Fundamentally, there is no transition in fatigue failure mech- 6. Concluding remarks

anism of Al2 O3 /YAG binary eutectic composite and predom-
inantly controlled by cleavage fracture. On the other hand, Eutectic composites have many advantages as high
in the L–C direction (perpendicular to solidification direc- temperature, environmental resistant structural materials.
tion), the da/dN − Kmax relationship cannot be followed by Japanese national project on application of these materials
Paris law and da/dN are nearly constant regardless of Kmax . to gas turbine system was briefly introduced focusing on
The explanation for the constant da/dN is that fatigue crack system integration and innovative, breakthrough processing
growth is stopped at the interface and then restarted after sev- and manufacturing technologies. The mechanical properties,
eral ten thousands fatigue cycles. That is to say, the fatigue fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth resistance were
crack growth is discontinuous. In summary, interface has a presented on the basis of improvements of materials reliabil-
remarkable influence on sub-critical crack growth character- ity and durability. It is necessary for the further research to
istics for eutectic composite. solve some key technical issues for a wide practical applica-
Creep resistance especially under highly water vapor pres- tion.
surized environments and thermal shock resistance for eutec-
tic composites can also be referenced to the literatures.20–25
Acknowledgements

5. A perspective: key technical issues for application This research has been promoted as NEDO Project on
MGC Applied Gas Turbine System under the sponsorship of
In summary, single crystal eutectic composites are high Ministry of Economic, Trade and Industry (METI). I would
performance as the high temperature, environmental resis- like to highly acknowledge all members of Technical Com-
tant structural material except for low fracture toughness mittee, especially, Drs. Kenji Kobayashi and Thousaku Taka-
and thermal shock resistance. They also have a fairly good mura, Ishikawajima-harima Heavy Industries, Drs. Yasuhiro
machinability and manufacturability in comparison with con- Kinoshita and Masanori Yoshida, Kawasaki Heavy Indus-
ventional sintered engineering ceramics. However, the most tries, Drs. Yoshiharu Waku and Narihito Nakagawa, Ube Co.
important challenge is the low-cost processing and manufac- Ltd., and Dr. Yoshihisa Harada, National Institute of AIST
turing technology for a wide practical application. It is still for their supports and fruitful discussions.
necessary for the future research to develop the integrated
modeling and computer process simulation technique. Key
technical issues to be urgently solved may be summarized as
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