A gas turbine first-stage blade material selection case study — a worked centrifugal-stress calculation, a Larson-Miller creep-rupture comparison across five candidate materials, and a final selection justified on more than just the biggest strength number.
The project brief: select a material for a heavy-duty industrial gas turbine's first-stage rotor blade, which must survive a 1,650°F metal temperature and a combined centrifugal-plus-bending stress for a 100,000-hour creep-rupture design life, resist oxidation and hot corrosion for the same interval, and be castable with intricate internal cooling passages. Framed as this program's baseline material-selection project, it works the full comparison a materials engineer would actually run across nickel superalloys, a cobalt alloy, and a ceramic matrix composite alternative.
This module works every number from that single design point: the centrifugal-stress calculation that couples a candidate's own density to the load it must carry, the Larson-Miller parameter method used to compare creep-rupture capability at one temperature-life combination, and the manufacturing, coating, and cost trade-offs that separate the highest-margin candidate from the actual final selection. The full worked numbers, complete material comparison table, and finished selection reasoning are part of the unlocked module below.