Advanced ceramic coating development for industrial/utility gas turbines

A program was conducted with the objective of developing advanced thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems. Coating application was by plasma spray. Duplex, triplex and graded coatings were tested. Coating systems incorporated both NiCrAly and CoCrAly bond coats. Four ceramic overlays were tested: ZrO2.82O3; CaO.TiO2; 2CaO.SiO2; and MgO.Al2O3. The best overall results were obtained with a CaO.TiO2 coating applied to a NiCrAly bond coat. This coating was less sensitive than the ZrO2.8Y2O3 coating to process variables and part geometry. Testing with fuels contaminated with compounds containing sulfur, phosphorus and alkali metals showed the zirconia coatings were destabilized. The calcium titanate coatings were not affected by these contaminants. However, when fuels were used containing 50 ppm of vanadium and 150 ppm of magnesium, heavy deposits were formed on the test specimens and combustor components that required frequent cleaning of the test rig. During the program Mars engine first-stage turbine blades were coated and installed for an engine cyclic endurance run with the zirconia, calcium titanate, and calcium silicate coatings. Heavy spalling developed with the calcium silicate system. The zirconia and calcium titanate systems survived the full test duration. It was concluded that these two TBC's showed potential for application in gas turbines

Advanced ceramic material for high temperature turbine tip seals

Ceramic material systems are being considered for potential use as turbine blade tip gas path seals at temperatures up to 1370 1/4 C. Silicon carbide and silicon nitride structures were selected for study since an initial analysis of the problem gave these materials the greatest potential for development into a successful materials system. Segments of silicon nitride and silicon carbide materials over a range of densities, processed by various methods, a honeycomb structure of silicon nitride and ceramic blade tip inserts fabricated from both materials by hot pressing were tested singly and in combination. The evaluations included wear under simulated engine blade tip rub conditions, thermal stability, impact resistance, machinability, hot gas erosion and feasibility of fabrication into engine components. The silicon nitride honeycomb and low-density silicon carbide using a selected grain size distribution gave the most promising results as rub-tolerant shroud liners. Ceramic blade tip inserts made from hot-pressed silicon nitride gave excellent test results. Their behavior closely simulated metal tips. Wear was similar to that of metals but reduced by a factor of six

Rocket thrust chamber thermal barrier coatings

A research program was conducted to generate data and develop analytical techniques to predict the performance and reliability of ceramic thermal barrier coatings in high heat flux environments. A finite element model was used to analyze the thermomechanical behavior of coating systems in rocket thrust chambers. Candidate coating systems (using a copper substrate, NiCrAlY bond coat and ZrO2.8Y2O3 ceramic overcoat) were selected for detailed study based on photomicrographic evaluations of experimental test specimens. The effects of plasma spray application parameters on the material properties of these coatings were measured and the effects on coating performance evaluated using the finite element model. Coating design curves which define acceptable operating envelopes for seleted coating systems were constructed based on temperature and strain limitations. Spray gun power levels was found to have the most significant effect on coating structure. Three coating systems were selected for study using different power levels. Thermal conductivity, strain tolerance, density, and residual stress were measured for these coatings. Analyses indicated that extremely thin coatings ( 0.02 mm) are required to accommodate the high heat flux of a rocket thrust chamber and ensure structural integrity

Brazing of beryllium for structural applications

Progress made in fabricating a beryllium compression tube structure and a stiffened beryllium panel. The compression tube was 7.6cm in diameter and 30.5cm long with titanium end fittings. The panel was 203cm long and stiffened with longitudinal stringers. Both units were assembled by brazing with BAg-18 braze alloy. The detail parts were fabricated by hot forming 0.305cm beryllium sheet and the brazing parameters established

Parameters for Twisted Representations

The study of Hermitian forms on a real reductive group $G$ gives rise, in the unequal rank case, to a new class of Kazhdan-Lusztig-Vogan polynomials. These are associated with an outer automorphism $\delta$ of $G$, and are related to representations of the extended group $$. These polynomials were defined geometrically by Lusztig and Vogan in "Quasisplit Hecke Algebras and Symmetric Spaces", Duke Math. J. 163 (2014), 983--1034. In order to use their results to compute the polynomials, one needs to describe explicitly the extension of representations to the extended group. This paper analyzes these extensions, and thereby gives a complete algorithm for computing the polynomials. This algorithm is being implemented in the Atlas of Lie Groups and Representations software

Advanced ceramic material for high temperature turbine tip seals

Forty-one material systems were evaluated for potential use in turbine blade tip seal applications at 1370 C. Both ceramic blade tip inserts and abradable ceramic tip shoes were tested. Hot gas erosion, impact resistance, thermal stability, and dynamic rub performance were the criteria used in rating the various materials. Silicon carbide and silicon nitride were used, both as blade tips and abradables. The blade tip inserts were fabricated by hot pressing while low density and honeycomb abradables were sintered or reaction bonded

Hecke algebras with unequal parameters and Vogan's left cell invariants

In 1979, Vogan introduced a generalised $\\tau$ -invariant for characterising primitive ideals in enveloping algebras. Via a known dictionary this translates to an invariant of left cells in the sense of Kazhdan and Lusztig. Although it is not a complete invariant, it is extremely useful in describing left cells. Here, we propose a general framework for defining such invariants which also applies to Hecke algebras with unequal parameters.Comment: 15 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1405.573

Dirac cohomology, elliptic representations and endoscopy

The first part (Sections 1-6) of this paper is a survey of some of the recent developments in the theory of Dirac cohomology, especially the relationship of Dirac cohomology with (g,K)-cohomology and nilpotent Lie algebra cohomology; the second part (Sections 7-12) is devoted to understanding the unitary elliptic representations and endoscopic transfer by using the techniques in Dirac cohomology. A few problems and conjectures are proposed for further investigations.Comment: This paper will appear in `Representations of Reductive Groups, in Honor of 60th Birthday of David Vogan', edited by M. Nervins and P. Trapa, published by Springe

A unified approach on Springer fibers in the hook, two-row and two-column cases

We consider the Springer fiber over a nilpotent endomorphism. Fix a Jordan basis and consider the standard torus relative to this. We deal with the problem to describe the flags fixed by the torus which belong to a given component of the Springer fiber. We solve the problem in the hook, two-row and two-column cases. We provide two main characterizations which are common to the three cases, and which involve dominance relations between Young diagrams and combinatorial algorithms. Then, for these three cases, we deduce topological properties of the components and their intersections.Comment: 42 page

Highest weight categories arising from Khovanov's diagram algebra II: Koszulity

This is the second of a series of four articles studying various generalisations of Khovanov's diagram algebra. In this article we develop the general theory of Khovanov's diagrammatically defined "projective functors" in our setting. As an application, we give a direct proof of the fact that the quasi-hereditary covers of generalised Khovanov algebras are Koszul.Comment: Minor changes, extra sections on Kostant modules and rigidity of cell modules adde