Deposit removal from industrial turbines using blast cleaning

Blast cleaning is used to remove deposits from surfaces of industrial turbine components. The main goal of the thesis was to evaluate the aggressiveness of different blast media and provide the best combination of blasting parameters for effective cleaning while minimizing the component substrate damage. The blasting process was characterized by the media kinetic energy and power based on velocity and mass flow measurements. This made the experimental results independent of equipment and test conditions. A qualitative characterization of both individual and multiple impact sites established the mechanism of deposit removal from turbine surfaces. An assessment of deformation at the edges of turbine parts such as at blade and disc grooves was made to identify blast conditions that minimized substrate damage.