Industrial Gas Turbines

One should not be so carefree with regard to a gas turbine as when choosing a detergent for the car. The material for washing the compressor must be explicitly specified by the manufacturer. Details and assurances of the washing agent suppliers are not adequate, e.g., as to the harmlessness or compatibility with approved media. It is, for instance, possible that in the engine, technologies (e.g., spray coatings as wear protection or abradables) are present, which already react sensitively to small deviations in the composition of the washing agent.

The use of degreasing solutions on the Cl-basis, such as Per or Tri can, e.g., produce very thin reaction layers on the surface of normally high corrosion resistant parts consisting of titan alloys. As a result of the heating up in operation and sufficient mechanical loads (especially at notches), e.g., stress corrosion cracking can be initiated, where there are vulnerable material conditions (e.g., welds).

Synthetics are increasingly used in gas turbines. They can react very sensitively compared to specific media (e.g., solvents, "Ill. 4.2.3.2-1") abradables and sealing from elastomeric or brittle sources, like synthetic resin (example 4.2-8). Even filler materials in a synthetic resin can be damaged through this kind of media. Corrosion sensitive, painted materials such as magnesium alloys can experience an impairment of the normally used synthetic coating, initiating aqueous corrosion during static ( "Ill. 3.6.1-5"). Furthermore, there is the possibility of lubricant from plain bearing surfaces (e.g., the heads of joint rods) being washed away.