Overview

Manufacturing methods, ^[1] materials and metallurgy (MMM) in gas turbines, like other technical elements of turbine technology, are dictated by the global business climate. The summary that follows describes the main elements of this climate as it affects MMM. The importance of each element at any given time depends on global economics as dictated by currencies (consider the Asian monetary crises of the late 1990s), politics, and wars (see also Chapter 14).

Just 20 or so years ago, industrial gas turbine engine could mean a heavy unsophisticated engine compared to its aviation counterpart. Industrial engines are still relatively heavier (with their large flat base and sometimes a "noise protection house" around them). However, their metallurgical sophistication may be quite comparable to aeroderivative and even aviation engines. The increasing sophistication in an OEM's F, G, and H technology is not that different from that in its aeroderivatives and flight engines. Rolls Royce, for instance, has consistently used its aircraft engine metallurgical technology in its land-based models, which it calls by the same generic stem: Avon, RB211, Trent, and so forth. Siemens Westinghouse is not officially an aircraft engine manufacturer, neither are Mitsubishi Power Systems (MPS) and Alstom (although ABB Stal, which was absorbed under the Alstom umbrella in 2000, had developed the aeroderivative GT35). However, their metallurgy is every bit as sophisticated as...