Erosive effect on Turbine

Nepal is facing severe silting problem in hydropower plants. Marshyangdi River is one of the
sediment-laden rivers in Nepal. The sedimentlogical study performed in 1981 has revealed an
average annual load of 26.7 million tones and bed-load of 2.9 million tones. Out of this total
load, 90% of the sediments are transported in the river during the monsoon season from May to
October. Similar conditions also used Martensitic stainless steel for manufacturing numerous
mechanical components of hydroelectric plants such as turbines, injectors and valves due to their
good prevail in rest of the rivers. Erosive wear damage of components by silt results in drop in
efficiency, forced outages and, repair.
Erosive wear of the turbine blades is a complex phenomenon that depends on:

Eroding particles, their size, shape, hardness and concentration;

Substrates, chemistry, elastic properties, surface hardness and surface morphology;
Operating conditions, velocity and impingement angle.

Hydro turbine runners are commonly made of stainless steel alloys. Several types of stainless
steel alloys are commercially available. The types designated "martensitic" and "austenitic" or
even duplex - have been used for runner fabrication, and the latter also have been used as
corrosion and cavitation-resistant overlays on carbon steel runners.
13Cr-4Ni steels (Martensitic chromium nickel stainless steel) are generally used for hydro
turbines and water pumps. These are used because of their excellent mechanical properties.
However, these materials are considerably less resistant to erosive wear and get damaged due
to excessive silt content of the water.
NiCrFeSiB alloys are resistant to abrasive wear
Nickel (Ni), being the major element, it provides ductility and enhances resistance to

corrosion.
Chromium (Cr) produces high resistance to wear and corrosion.
Boron (B) enhances wear resistance and along with silicon reduces the melting point
of the alloy and acts as a flux.

Advantages of Nitronic 60:

a. Cavitation Erosion

Cavitation erosion resistance of NITRONIC 60 is superior to the austenitic stainless steels as

well as high strength duplex (Ferritic austenitic) stainless steels. It approaches the cobalt-base
alloys which are considered among the most cavitation-resistant alloys available.
NITRONIC 60 Stainless Steel is anticipated that the excellent galling resistance, cavitation
erosion resistance, and good castability of NITRONIC 60 Stainless will make it an ideal choice
for turbine runners, especially with integrally cast wear rings.
(http://www.hpalloy.com/docs/Nitronic60book.pdf)

Solutions to the material selection concerns

There are three primary solutions to concerns regarding material selection when specifying
manufacture of new or replacement turbine runners for hydroelectric projects.

Assure that all components within the runner are the same material.

Do not allow welding with a non-compatible filler material. Welding martensitic steel
with an austenitic filler should not be acceptable.

Accept martensitic only in those cases where conditions indicate the strength of the
material is necessary to provide a usable design, such as very-high-head reversible units
or a Pelton (Turgo) unit with unusually high head. Even this aspect is questionable and
could be addressed with the higher-strength austenitic, such as Nitronic 60 in either cast
or wrought form.