Defect detection strategies in Nickel Superalloys welds using active thermography

Abstract

As a result of extreme operation conditions in gas turbines, high resistance materials with excellent behaviour at high temperature are required. Alloys, such as MarM-247 nickel based superalloy, with excellent mechanical properties at very high temperature (even at 85 % of their melting point) are being used in these applications. This extraordinary behaviour is mainly due to the presence of a strengthening phase (') with the following chemical composition: Ni3(Al, Ti). However, during welding these materials are susceptible to cracking and this is why weld inspections become crucial. In this work different strategies for defect detection in welds are introduced, all of them based on active thermography. The work covers aspects such as different excitation and data evaluation strategies.