Effect of aluminized coating on combined low and high cycle fatigue life of turbine blade at elevated temperature

Some cracks were detected on the fir-tree root of turbine blade in an in-service aeroengine, and the aluminized coating was considered to be the main cause of these cracks. To study the effect of aluminized coating on fatigue life of turbine blade, the combined low and high cycle fatigue (CCF) tests are carried out at elevated temperature on both aluminized and untreated turbine blades. Probability analysis of test data is conducted and the result indicates that the median life is decreased by 62.2% due to the effect of the aluminized coating. Further study on the mechanism of crack initiation and propagation has been conducted based on fractography and cross section morphology analysis by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the results indicate: (1) The aluminized coating consists of two layers, of which the inner layer is considered to contain the r phase and it reduces the resistance to fatigue of blade. (2) Many cavities are found in the inner layer of aluminized coating, which lead to the initiation of cracks and result in the reduction of crack initiation life. (3) The marker band widths of aluminized and untreated blade are very close, which indicated the aluminized coating may have no effect on the crack propagation life of the blade.