Paper ID: CITC 201912670 Proceedings of Fourth ChineseInternational TurbomachineryConference

CITC, October31, 2020; NanChang,China

Comprehensive Wear Failure Diagnosis Technology of Gas Turbine

SUN Jiasi
(AECC Shenyang Engine Research Institute, Shengyang 110015, China)
Abstract: The technologies for the wear failure analysis of gas turbine mainly include spectrum analysis, ferrography
technology, laser net fines (LNF), and scanning electronic microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). To
maintain the safety and reliability of the on-going research gas turbine during the long-time test, and to detect the initial wear failure
of the transmission and lubrication system of engine, it is necessary to use these technologies properly and efficiently to analyze the
lubricant oil sampled at different time intervals during the test, which is beneficial to diagnose the potential wear failure position and
prevent the wear failure. The wear failure of the engine during 300 h test was diagnosed by these technologies. The result shows that
the integrate method of the spectrum analysis, LNF, ferrography technology combined with SEM-EDX is able to locate the precise
wear position and identify the material of abnormal wear particles, which is just in accordance with the actual decomposition of the
engine at the end of the test. Therefore, the combination of the above technologies can be used to diagnose the potential wear failure
of gas turbine precisely in time, as well as locate the corresponding wear position through determination of material.
Key words: gas turbine; wear failure; spectrum; ferrography; LNF; SEM-EDX

1 Introduction
Faults and failure caused by wear have taken up over 80% of all the fault cases of gas turbine due to the
interaction of wear pairs of the lubricating system. [1-5], so the wear faults diagnosis have played a significant role
in the operation and maintenance of gas turbine. Equipment health condition monitoring based on oil analysis is
seen as an appropriate tool to maximize equipment life and availability, to predict and prevent costly failures, and
to reduce the frequency of unnecessary maintenance and servicing [6-10]. Recently, there are plenty of studies using
the available oil monitoring information, such as the data obtained using the Spectrometric Oil Analysis (SOA)
[11-12]. However, such method has its own flaws that it can only monitor those wear particles with diameters

smaller than 15um which contribute to a part of all the wear particles. Therefore, to fully understand the wear
condition of gas turbine and diagnose its potential wear failure, other techniques, such as Laser Net Fines (LNF),
ferrography and Scanning Electronic Microscope and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy[13] were utilized as
well, which are able to monitor the appearance, size, and distribution of larger particles (>15μm) that are estimated
as a crucial part of wear particles to acquire more information associated with wear failure.
In this paper, a comprehensive technology involving all the above analysis was introduced, studied and proved
with an actual example to analyze the location and mechanism of wear failure.
2 Examples and Discussions
During the test of a specific gas turbine, a wide range of methods were adopted to monitor its wear condition,
such as spectrum analysis, LNF, ferrography technology combined with SEM-EDX to maintain the safety and
reliability of the engine.
2.1 Oil Analysis
Rotating Disk Electrode Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (RDEAES) instrument made by Spetroil Inc. is
adopted to analyze quantitatively the content of some certain elements of the lubricant oil due to its convenience
and high-efficiency. Usually, considering the metal elements, such as Fe, Cu, Ag, et al., contained in the majority
of the interacted rub pairs, they are critical to estimate the operation condition of the lubricating system of the
engine, which makes them desirable as the SOA monitoring indexes. The primary wear elements and the
corresponding wear positions are listed in Table 1. As is shown, most of the structural parts with frictional
Paper ID: CITC 201912670 Proceedings of Fourth ChineseInternational TurbomachineryConference
CITC, October31, 2020; NanChang,China
interaction, such as bearings, gears, et al., are made of iron-base material. In addition, the oil tank represents the
average wear condition compared with all the other sampling positions. Thereby, in this paper, the Fe variation
trend of the oil tank was utilized to predict the wear trend of the lubricating system of the engine ongoing
research.

Table 1 The wear elements and the corresponding wear positions of the gas turbine

Metal Elements Corresponding wear positions

Fe Bearings, Retainers, Gears et al.

Cr Retainers, Gears, Bushes et al.

Cu Retainers, Grommets, Bushes

Ni Sealrings, Gears, Bushes

Enclousure, Vented Carburetors，

Ti
Bushes

Bushes，Vented Carburetors，
Al
Enclousure

Mg Enclousure

Ag Retainers， Silver planted gears

Paper ID: CITC 201912670 Proceedings of Fourth ChineseInternational TurbomachineryConference
CITC, October31, 2020; NanChang,China

Fig .1 The Fe element oil spectral analysis data of the lubricant tank of the gas turbine during 500h test
As can be seen from Fig. 1, it is noticeable that the concentration of Fe fluctuated throughout the whole
testing period. For example, initially, it was 0.5 ppm, and then almost 20 hours later it surpassed the alarm value at
over 3 ppm before reaching the limit value. This pattern has circulated for several times during the test. The
manufacture of such typical products as gas turbine involves a large number of complex processes and nonlinear
dynamic systems, apart from which oil consumption and leakage, and uncertain periodical supplement and
replacement of lubricant oil may all have influence on the estimation of wear condition. Thus, refilling of oil was
common when the concentration of Fe reached limit value or alarm value. That is why it has seen a fluctuation
during the whole process.
2.2 LNF Analysis
Because the SOA values were larger than the limit value and alarm value in most cases, and also SOA can
only analyze part of the wear particles, the LNF analysis was utilized in analyzing the wear particles with
diameters larger than 15 um occasionally to obtain more information about the size, morphology and wear type of
the particles contained in the lubricant. The results were indicated in the following table.

Table 2 Results of LNF Analysis（Number/ml）

Time/h 20～25μm 25～50μm 50～100μm

Wear Type 150 300 500 150 300 500 150 300 500
Cutting 12 24 67 15 35 135 5 7 23
Severe Sliding 36 82 325 62 135 568 6 18 34
Fatigue 168 287 2154 98 201 1621 4 5 75

It can be seen from Table 2 that the numbers of particles with a size ranging from 20μm to 100μm in each
wear category increased with time and reached the maximum at the end of the test (500h), among which the
numbers in fatigue type topped the rank with 2154 in 20~25μm, 1621 in 25~50μm, and 75 in 50~100μm. This
result indicates that fatigue wear was the main reason that the abnormal wear occurred during the test. The
following factor is severe sliding with 325 in 20~25μm, 568 in 25~50μm and 34 in 50~100μm. Comparatively,
cutting wear has played a less significant role with 67 in 20~25μm, 135 in 25~50μm and 23 in 50~100μm Thus, to
further identify the wear mechanism, ferrography analysis was conducted and discussed next.
Paper ID: CITC 201912670 Proceedings of Fourth ChineseInternational TurbomachineryConference
CITC, October31, 2020; NanChang,China

Fatigue Wear Severe Sliding Wear Cutting Wear

Fig .2 The Fe element oil spectral analysis data of the lubricant tank of the gas turbine during 500h test
2.3 Ferrography analysis
The ferrography analysis can be used to monitor the wear condition in terms of surface, contour, color and
other morphological features of wear particles. The length, width and thickness of wear particles were measured
to identify the wear mechanism and position. As the same as the LNF analysis, the lubricant oil was sampled at
the same intervals.

Table 3 Results of ferrography analysis

Wear particles
Particles with diameters larger than 20μm Fatigue Cutting Severe Sliding
Time/h
150 Few Few Few Few
300 Few Few Few Few
500 Medium，Some of which were oxidized Medium Medium Few

From the above table and following pictures, obviously, the numbers of wear particles in all the types
ended up with dramatical increases, as well as enlarging to some extent compared with the initial stage. The
wear particles are mainly fatigue wear particles, accompanied by a small number of severe sliding wear
particles and cutting wear particles, and a large number of large-size wear particles. The particles with
diameters larger than 20μm were caused by welding, grinding and cavitation of gears. The appearance of
those specific wear particles in such large scale is normally a sign that an abnormal wear has already
occurred and it is necessary to determine the wear position, and then implement emergent measures to protect
the gas turbine from jeopardy.

Fig .3 The morphology of wear particles analyzed by ferrography equipment

2.4 SEM-EDX Analysis

To locate the abnormal wear position accurately, SEM-EDX Analysis was conducted on the basis of
ferragraphic analysis. With the assistance of ferragraphic pieces, it is relatively easy to seek for the abnormal wear
Paper ID: CITC 201912670 Proceedings of Fourth ChineseInternational TurbomachineryConference
CITC, October31, 2020; NanChang,China
particles and photographed by SEM analysis. Meanwhile, the ingredients of wear particles were analyzed by EDX
as illustrated below.

Fig .4 The results of SEM and EDX Analysis

From the above analysis, it has demonstrated that the wear material is copper and aluminum alloy. The material of
most fatigue wear particles and sliding wear particles is consistent with that of bearing balls, and that of few fatigue
wear particles in line with that of cage coating, which all indicates that the gas turbine was in abnormal condition.

3 Conclusions
From the above analysis, it is estimated that the abnormal wear positions are bearing balls and cage coating, based
on which, the test should be ceased instantly. Additionally, the surface of bearing balls and cage were remarkably
tarnished and scorched after the disassembly of the gas turbine. Therefore, the integrated analysis results by the means
of spectrum analysis, ferrography technology, LNF, and SEM-EDX has been demonstrated to be precise. Moreover, the
application of those techniques together has facilitated the failure analysis of wear faults and boosted the reliability and
security of the gas turbine in operation, particularly during the research phase, which has provided the essential
reference to the design and test of the self-developed gas turbine engine of China.
Acknowlegments
This study is supported by the two specific projects of aero-engine and gas turbine initiated by Chinese government.
The authors express their gratitude to the editor and the anonymous reviewers whose insightful technical comments and
useful editorial suggestions improve the quality of this paper.

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