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Hardide Coating Extends Life of Turbine Blades
Hardide Coating Extends Life of Turbine Blades.
About this update from Hardide Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 6506S Hardide PLC 13 March 2019 \n\n \n13 March 2019\n \nHardide plc\n(\"Hardide\" or \"the Group\" or \"the Company\")\n \nTesting indicates Hardide CVD coating can extend the life of steam turbine blades\n \nEDF Energy to field test Hardide-coated blades\n \nHardide plc (AIM: HDD), the provider of advanced surface coating technology, is pleased to announce that preliminary tests indicate that Hardide nanostructured chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coating can extend the life of steam turbine blades through significantly enhanced resistance to water droplet erosion (WDE) and solid particle erosion.\n \nThe tests, carried out by the National Physical Laboratory (\"NPL\") and the University of Manchester (\"UoM\"), assessed the effectiveness of the Hardide coating as protection from WDE and cracking on FV520B last stage turbine blades.\n \nAfter 90 hours of exposure to WDE (up to 1.2x108 water droplet impacts) Hardide-A coated 410 stainless steel samples showed almost no discernible damage in the central zone. The uncoated 410 stainless steel samples suffered major damage with a 200 microns deep scar across the sample face after a much shorter exposure of just 7 hours.\n \nTests commissioned by Hardide Coatings' customer EDF Energy at the University of Manchester examined the static behaviour solid particle erosion resistance of the Hardide coating on FV520B steam turbine blade material. These yielded 0.18% weight loss for uncoated material compared to 0.04% weight loss for coated blades after 30 hours of static testing. The coating was shown to have a minimal effect on the blade's natural frequencies; however, this effect is dependent on the coating thickness and blade design.\n \nThe results will be revealed today at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers' STUG (Steam Turbine Users Group) conference in Manchester in a joint presentation by Dr Wolfgang Hahn, Commissioning Manager, Hinkley Point C (HPC) Nuclear New Build at EDF Energy, Hardide Coatings' Technical Director, Dr Yuri Zhuk and Business Development Manager, Robin Gillham.\n \nDr Zhuk of Hardide Coatings commented: \"Water droplet erosion and fatigue are industry-wide pressing issues and we are very pleased with these initial test results which demonstrate the protection that the Hardide CVD coa...