Jeffrey Allen Conner

Coating Rejuvenation: New Repair Technology for High Pressure Turbine Blades

With the evolution of advanced directionally solidified and single crystal nickel base superalloy turbine blades, managing life cycle costs of high pressure turbine (HPT) blades has become increasingly more difficult. Today’s advanced high pressure turbine blades in aero and aero-derivative turbines feature thin walls (<.030 inches), complex internal geometries, three dimensional (3D) aerodynamic shapes, multiple protective coatings and complex film cooling schemes. A major contributor to blade life cycle cost is the ability to perform multiple repairs without compromising the integrity of these complex components.Repair of HPT blades has traditionally fallen into two categories: mini or partial repairs where blade tips are restored and coated, and full repairs where flowpath coatings are removed, blade tips restored and new coating(s) applied to flowpath surfaces. Historically, the number of full repairs allowed ranges from zero to two based on numerous design considerations, one of which is maintaining a minimum wall thickness. Removal of protective coatings during full repair reduces wall thickness which limits the number of times a full repair can be performed. Furthermore, blades that have sufficient design allowance to permit two full repairs typically have very low yields at the second full repair due to thinning of airfoil walls below minimum thickness limits. The life of a given HPT blade is therefore controlled to a large degree by at what shop visit a full repair is performed.GE Engine Services has developed a new blade repair approach — Coating Rejuvenation — which significantly extends blade life by restoring protective coatings and maintaining wall thickness. Included in the Coating Rejuvenation repair are technologies that allow: removal of physical vapor deposited (PVD) thermal barrier coatings from external surfaces and cooling holes without impacting the bond coat; removal of oxidation and corrosion products from engine exposed coatings without impacting adjacent intact coating; restoration of coating composition to optimize environmental resistance; and upgrade of existing aluminide coatings to platinum aluminide coatings without removal of the existing coating. Combined together, these technologies can be used to support a comprehensive blade repair workscope plan that dramatically increases the life of HPT blades and decreases the life cycle cost for these components. Overviews of these technologies are presented in this paper along with information on how the technology was matured. Due to pending patent applications with the US Patent & Trademark Office as well as pending patent applications in other countries, significant technical detail cannot be presented at this time.Copyright