Materials for green hydrogen fueled gas turbines through additive manufacturing

Purpose and goal

Gas turbines have demonstrated their effectiveness in balancing volatile renewable energy generation thanks to their flexibility and short ramp-up times. Future carbon-free power generation requires ramping of hydrogen capability in gas turbines. Still, burning hydrogen gas faces a lot of challenges connected to high temperatures. Project is aiming to develop powder, LB-PBF process and post-AM processing (HIP) for novel Ni-base materials with excellent high-temperature mechanical and corrosion properties, that are required for application in hydrogen fueled gas turbines.

Expected effects and result

The project aims to create knowledge base regarding critical factors of alloy design, powder characteristics and AM fabrication recipes for successful manufacturing of tailored Ni-based alloys with excellent high-temperature mechanical and corrosion properties. These knowledge will allow Höganäs to introduce new powders on the market for AM, allow Siemens to develop LB-PBF manufacturing of the components for hydrogen fueled gas turbines, and allow to introduce new LB-PBF (EOS) and post-AM (Quintus) processes allowing fabrication of difficult-to-build AM materials.

Planned approach and implementation

Project aims to develop solutions for Ni-base alloys with high sensitivity to cracking during LB-PBF processing for high-temperature applications, required for hydrogen fueled gas turbines. MAGDA will implement a comprehensive approach by combining tailored alloy design, LB-PBF process and post-AM process development. Project involves development/optimisation of the powder material, design for AM coupled to component requirements, extensive microstructure and properties characterisation, including the development and evaluation of a demonstrator.