China makes turbine blade breakthrough that could give Type 055 guided-missile destroyers an edge
- ‘Milestone’ advance comes as China pursues hi-tech goals
- Development was a result of cooperation with Russian firm, shipbuilding source says
China said it has produced a blade casting that could improve the performance of the heavy duty turbines that will power the latest generation of its guided-missile destroyers.
State Power Investment Corp (SPIC), one of China’s largest state-owned power generator companies, said it could now establish its own production process for the core component of 330-megawatt gas turbines.
SPIC said on its website on Tuesday that the blade casting was “China’s first breakthrough in core components in heavy-duty gas turbines” and “the most important milestone achievement” since 2015, when China launched a task force to develop a home-grown gas turbine.
To generate electricity, air and fuel are mixed and combusted, causing the turbine blades to spin, driving the generator. The blades are typically made of superalloys designed to endure the high stresses created within the turbine.
China’s efforts to access critical but sensitive technologies – owned by foreign players such as General Electric in the US, Germany’s Siemens, Japan’s Mitsubishi and Italy’s Ansaldo Energia – have been turned down over the past 50 years, putting China “at risk of being choked by the neck”, especially in the field of national energy security, Science and Technology Daily said in May.