General Electric Company

Brent Ross Tholke

Warren Davis Grossklaus, Jr

Melvin Robert Jackson

David Edwin Budinger

Joshua L Miller

Matthew Nicklus Miller

Joseph David Rigney

Lawrence Bernard Kool

Thomas Joseph Kelly

Antonio Frank Maricocchi

Thomas Tracy Wallace

John Douglas Evans, Sr

Melvin Howard Wilkins

Karl S Fessenden

Christine Govern Walston

Warren D Grossklaus

Karl Stephen Fessenden

Provided is a method for heat treating a precipitation-hardened article having a thick section and a thin section so that the thin section can be solution annealed while the metallurgical structure of the thick section is substantially unaffected by the solution-annealing process. The method restores the microstructure of the thin section uniformly by solution annealing the thin section to achieve a preselected microstructure but without affecting the microstructure of the thick section.

High pressure turbine airfoil recovery device and method of heat treatment

A method for repairing a nickel-base superalloy article, such as a gas turbine stationary flowpath shroud having flowpath cooling holes therein that has previously been in service, includes the steps of providing the nickel-base superalloy article that has previously been in service; and applying a restoration to a surface of the article. The restoration is applied by the steps of providing a restoration nickel-base alloy, wherein the restoration nickel-base alloy preferably has no more than about 15 weight percent chromium and no more than about 0.01 percent yttrium, thereafter applying a restoration coating of the restoration nickel-base alloy to the surface of the article by a hyper-velocity oxyfuel metal spray process or a low-pressure plasma spray process, and thereafter heating the article with the restoration coating applied to the surface thereof to a sufficiently high temperature to diffusion bond the restoration coating to the surface of the article. The article is then returned to service.

Method for HVOF or LPPS restoration coating repair of a nickel-base superalloy article

Formation of a silicon-modified aluminide coating on the under platform region of a superalloy gas turbine engine blade for improved corrosion and oxidation resistance. The coating is formed from a slurry composition including colloidal silica and aluminum-based powder and is substantially free of hexavalent chromium. The coating provides aluminum and silicon content in the outer 25% of a coating thickness of at least about 20% by weight aluminum and about 3% by weight silicon.

Methods for improving corrosion and oxidation resistance to the under platform region of a gas turbine blade

A nickel-base superalloy article, such as a gas turbine stationary flowpath shroud that has previously been in service, is repaired by applying a restoration coating to a surface of the article. The restoration coating is applied by providing a precursor mixture, wherein the precursor mixture has no more than about 15 weight percent chromium and no more than about 0.01 percent yttrium, and wherein the precursor mixture includes a higher-melting-point alloy component and a lower-melting-point alloy component. The precursor mixture is applied to the surface of the article, in a form such as a preform of the alloy components. The article with the precursor mixture applied to the surface thereof is heated to a sufficiently high temperature to melt the lower-melting-point alloy component, thereby forming the restoration coating on the surface of the article.

Method for repair of a nickel-base superalloy article using a thermally densified coating

The present invention provides for a method to reduce the strength of the honeycomb of a jet turbine stator, increasing its machinability, with a resultant reduction in measured peak tooth temperature, while maintaining or even improving its high temperature capability, so as not to limit its operating environment. The air seal functionality is unaffected, and even improved in some instances. The machinability of the honeycomb is increased by using a light element diffused into the honeycomb ribbon to produce the effect of reducing its strength and ductility while maintaining the environmental resistance needed. The present invention also includes the stator honeycomb produced by the foregoing method.

Material treatment for reduced cutting energy and improved temperature capability of honeycomb seals

A method of depositing a ceramic thermal barrier coating on an article that will be subjected to a hostile environment, such as turbine, combustor and augmentor components of a gas turbine engine. The thermal barrier coating is deposited by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD) using process parameters that include an absolute pressure of greater than 0.010 mbar and an oxygen partial pressure of greater than 50%, preferably at or close to 100%. Under these conditions, the desired ceramic material is evaporated with an electron beam to produce a vapor that deposits on the component to form a thermal barrier coating of the ceramic material.

Method for forming a thermal barrier coating by electron beam physical vapor deposition

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Brent Ross Tholke