General Electric Company

Patsy Augustine Ruzzo

Matthew J Stewart

Thomas John Tomlinson

David John Dietz

An article having a thermal-spray coating thereon is prepared by thermally spraying a coating material onto a surface of a substrate article. The coated article is nondestructively tested by directing a transmitted ultrasonic signal into the coated article, receiving a received ultrasonic signal from the coated article, and evaluating a near-bondline region of the coated article located adjacent to the surface of the article using the received ultrasonic signal.

Method for preparing and ultrasonically testing a thermal-spray coated article

An inspection apparatus includes a component engagement apparatus, a detection apparatus, and a movement apparatus and is controlled by a cam. A drawer is slidably attached to the component engagement apparatus to receive and align a component including a TV-shaped opening. The detection apparatus is sized to receive an eddy current probe and is attached to the movement apparatus with an adjustable fixture. The movement apparatus identifies a relative position of the eddy current probe in relation to the TV-shaped opening being inspected and guides the movement of the detection apparatus.

Methods and apparatus for inspecting TV-shaped openings, using eddy current

A method for determining the thickness of an aluminide coating deposited on a gas turbine blade using X-ray spectrometry in which the turbine blade is formed from a nickel-based, high temperature alloy. The method establishes a characteristic secondary emission curve based upon the presence of a boundary layer or a layer of nickel permeating into the aluminide coating layer during the coating process. A characteristic secondary emission curve is formed based upon secondary emission characteristic of nickel. One end of the curve is established by a count rate corresponding to secondary radiation from substantially pure nickel and a second end of the curve corresponds to a count rate representative of secondary emission from either the base material or the coating material. The determination of whether to use the base material or the coating material is dependent upon whether the coating is applied by a packed powder process or by chemical vapor deposition and whether the measurements are to be taken in an emission mode or an absorption mode. In either event, the established curve is utilized by an X-ray spectrometry machine to correlate the count rate and fit the measured count rate onto the curve to provide a direct read-out of thickness of the coating.

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West Chester, OH, United States of America

Patsy Augustine Ruzzo