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FMSP 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 772 (2020) 012102 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/772/1/012102
Failure analysis of the low-pressure blade lacing wire in steam
turbine
Lijie Qiao *, Keyun Feng
Huadian Electric Power Research Institute Co., Ltd, Hangzhou, China
Abstract. The failure analysis of the low-pressure last stage blade lacing wire in steam
turbine made of 0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb(S17400) is presented. The failure of the low-pressure
last stage blade occurred at 7 operating years. Several examinations were carried out to
identify the blade lacing wire failure’s root cause: macroscopic inspection, chemical
composition analysis, hardness test, metallographic analysis, microscopic examination
and inspection of maintenance records. It is found that there is local displacement of the
roots of the low-pressure rotor, and the collision between the lacing and the lacing holes
is the direct cause and external mechanical incentive of the lacing fracture.the high
content of P element and the high hardness reduce the plasticity and toughness of the
material which is the intrinsic factor of this tensile fracture, without obvious plastic
deformation, the low-pressure last stage blade lacing wire breaks rapidly. It is suggested
to find out the local displacement of blade root and fix it in a reliable way, check the
strength after eliminating the harmful defects such as cracks, and replace the blade if
necessary, strictly according to DL/T438-2016 and the manufacturer's standard
requirements for the inspection of the lacing wire before use.
Keywords: Turbine blade; lacing wire; fracture; failure analysis.
1. Introduction
Steam turbine blades are critical components in power plants, which convert the linear motion of high
temperature and high pressure steam flowing down a pressure gradient into a rotary motion of the turbine
shaft. The low pressure turbine blades, designed to extract the final remnant of energy from the passing
steam flow, are relatively large scale rotating airfoils due to the significant centrifugal forces
experienced during normal operation. four blades are grouped together by a lacing wire. Low pressure
(LP) blades of a steam turbine are generally found to be more susceptible to failure than intermediate
pressure (IP) and high pressure (HP) blades. [1-4]
0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb (S17400) steel is a martensitic precipitation hardening stainless steel. The steel has
high corrosion resistance, good attenuation performance, easy adjustment of strength level, simple
welding process, especially corrosion resistance and water drop resistance than 12% Cr steel, and has
good comprehensive mechanical properties. It can be used for turbine low pressure final stage moving
blades and structural parts with working temperature below 300℃ in corrosive environment.[5-8]
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
FMSP 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 772 (2020) 012102 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/772/1/012102
The gas turbine, steam turbine and generator are rigidly connected in series on a long axis, the steam
turbine model is HTC158# (D10 optimized type), three-pressure, intermediate reheat, single-shaft,
impulsive non-extraction pure solidification unit. The high-pressure cylinder of the steam turbine is
arranged in reverse flow. At the final stage of the medium-pressure cylinder, there is intake steam from
the waste heat boiler low-pressure superheated steam. The medium pressure cylinders are mixed with
the steam and flow into the low pressure cylinder. The low pressure cylinder is a double-flow down-
flow type with 6 pressure stages for a total of 12 stages. The parameters of low pressure steam are shown
in Table 1.
Table 1. The parameters of low pressure steam.
Extraction condition Pure coagulation condition
Steam inlet pressure(MPa) 0.37 0.40
Steam inlet temperature(℃) 305.05 304.54
Steam flow(t/h) 38.28 44.24
Exhaust steam pressure(KPa) 3.67 4.90
Exhaust steam temperature(℃) 27.51 32.54
Exhaust flow(t/h) 211.16 362.42
During the No.7 steam turbine set overhaul in April 2019, it was found that there were lacing wire
fracture and leaf blade hole damage of the last stage low-pressure blade, and the material was
0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb(S17400) with 13 mm diameter. A series of tests were carried out to analyze the cause
of failure.
2. Experimental procedure
The objects to investigate into were lacing wire fracture and leaf blade hole damage (8.090 h service
exposed) obtained from the plant. After an extensive visual examination, chemical analysis of the lacing
wire material was carried out by spectral analysis method. A portion of the failed lacing wire fractured
surface was cut for metallography. The metallographic samples were prepared by using standard
metallographic techniques and etched with reagent Ferric chloride and hydrochloric acid during 15s at
room temperature. The brinell hardness test and vickers hardness test were carried out on the cross
section of the lacing wire. Brinell Hardness Testing Machine with bearing of 2.5mm in diameter under
a load of 1840 N.Micro-hardness Vickers tests were performed with a 200 g load and an indentation
time of 15 s. Micro-indentation tests were also carried out on defined areas of the sample. The applied
load was 1960 mN. The microstructure of the lacing wire material was analyzed using an optical
microscope and a TESCAN VEGA3 LM scanning electron microscope (SEM).
3. Results
3.1. Visual inspection
Low pressure blade lacing wire and brace hole site inspection situation as shown in fig.1.There is a gap
between lacing wire with brace hole, accidental abnormal factors may lead to the collision of lacing wire
and brace hole in operation, local defects were first produced on the outer surface or the inner surface
of the pull rib hole, local defects subsequently develop into microcracks in high-speed rotation or re-
collision, macroscopic defects caused by microcrack growth are related to collision energy, frequency
and contact area, etc. local defects can form Local crack of blade hole (b),gap of blade hole(c),severe
crack of blade hole(c).In addition, it can be seen from (b) that the collision at different locations can
form multiple cracks at different locations (9 o 'clock and 12 o 'clock), extending along the inner wall
to the outer wall.(e) visible fracture in overall level, no obvious plastic deformation, the characteristics
of brittle fracture, fracture surface local oxidation corrosion, show the maintenance when the brace has
broken the oxidation, fracture surface smooth metallic parts, may be associated with cracking section
between local touch after grinding, according to the fracture extended morphology, visible inspection
2
FMSP 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 772 (2020) 012102 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/772/1/012102
blade fracture source of brace in the A1 and A2 position, extension area located at the position B,
instantaneous fault zone located at the position C.
solder joints
the crack
(a) Fit between lacing wire and blade hole (b) Local crack of blade hole
broken lacing wire
gap
solder joints
severe crack
(c) Gap of blade hole (d) severe crack of blade hole
A2
C
A1
(e) Fracture of lacing wire
Figure 1. Morphology of failed low-pressure blade
3.2. Chemical analysis
Thermo ARL8860 spectrometer was used for spectral analysis, and the analysis results were the average
of the three test results, as shown in table.2.It can be seen that the content of P exceeds the requirements
of manufacturer's standard, and the content of other major elements meets the requirements. Generally,
P element is considered as the harmful element in steel, which can reduce the plasticity and toughness
of steel, and increase the brittle transition temperature of steel, leading to the cold brittleness of steel.
3
FMSP 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 772 (2020) 012102 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/772/1/012102
Table 2. Spectral analysis results (wt%).
Elements C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Cu Nb+Ta
Result 0.040 0.38 0.23 0.035 0.004 15.84 4.41 3.37 0.28
15.00~ 3.80~ 3.00~ 0.15~
Manufacturer's standard ≤0.055 ≤1.00 ≤0.50 ≤0.030 ≤0.020
16.00 4.50 3.70 0.35
3.3. Hardness test
Brinell hardness test and vickers hardness test were carried out on the cross section of the lacing wire .
The hardness test location was shown in fig.2, and the results of brinell hardness test were shown in
table.3, and vickers hardness test results were shown in fig.3.It can be seen that the detected brinell
hardness value exceeds the manufacturer's standard requirements, and the distribution trend of vickers
hardness of the tensile rib cross-section of the blade shows an upward trend from the central part to the
edge part. The measured minimum value is 308HV, and the measured maximum value is 326HV, both
of which exceed the manufacturer's standard requirements.
(a) Brinell hardness test (b) vickers hardness test
Figure 2. Location of hardness measuring point
Table 3. Brinell hardness test results (HBW)
Measuring point 1 2 3 4 manufacturer's standard
Result 320 314 315 318 262-302
Figure 3. Vickers hardness test results
3.4. Microscopical investigation
The metallographic structure of the outer edge and the central part is martensite without obvious
abnormality, which was shown in fig.4.
4
FMSP 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 772 (2020) 012102 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/772/1/012102
(a) The outer edge (b) the central part
Figure 4. microstructure of lacing wire
The source area, extension area and transient fracture area of lacing wire were analyzed by sem
respectively, and the results are shown in fig.5.Visible fracture source (A1) local pit, for external surface
of the lacing wire after the collision, the follow-up development in high speed rotating or collision again
as the crack, and gradually expand to the central part, micro has the obvious river pattern, spreading area
and transient breaking cleavage fracture morphology, found no toughening nest morphology, as a typical
brittle fracture. There are smooth grinding surface and directional grinding mark in the fracture, which
may be related to the friction between the sections after lacing wire fracture. The local pore morphology
of the fracture may be the original defect of the material.
(a) Morphology of source area A1
Local rubbing cleavage characteristic
cleavage characteristic
cleavage characteristic Local grinding
(b) Local rubbing marks in extension area (c) Local grinding in transient fracture area
5
FMSP 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 772 (2020) 012102 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/772/1/012102
hole
cleavage
(d) Cleavage morphology in extension area
Figure 5. SEM morphology of fracture
4. Conclusion
In summary, local displacement exists in the blade root of the last stage of low-pressure rotor, and the
collision between the lacing wire and brace hole during operation is the direct cause and external
mechanical inducement of the failure. The high content P element and hardness of lacing wire reduce
the plasticity and toughness of the material, which are the internal factors of this lacing wire fracture.
Brittle fracture occurs rapidly without obvious plastic deformation of the steel.
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[4] Viswanathan R. Damage mechanisms and life assessment of high temperature components.
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[5] ASM handbook, Vol. 1., ASM Metals Park (OH), 1993. p. 284.
[6] Thermal Power Plant Metal Materials Handbook, China Electric Power Press,2001. p. 284.
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