General Electric Company

Robert George Baur

Bangalore Aswatha Nagaraj

Jan Christopher Schilling

Brett Allen Boutwell

Michael Harvey Schneider

An airfoil is disclosed having a concave pressure side and a convex suction side defining a chord length, and a leading edge and a trailing edge. A leading edge protective strip is adhered by a bond layer to and protectively covers the leading edge and respective predetermined portions of the pressure side and suction side of the airfoil body from the leading edge downstream towards the trailing edge. The leading edge protective strip includes a multiplicity of inwardly-facing grooves in which the bond layer is embedded. The grooves define adjacent segments of a predetermined size sufficiently small that, if detached from the vane during engine operation, impact with downstream engine components will not cause damage to the downstream engine components.

Airfoil and method for protecting airfoil leading edge

An airfoil is disclosed having a concave pressure side and a convex suction side defining a chord length, and a leading edge and a trailing edge. A leading edge protective strip is adhered by a bond layer to and protectively covers the leading edge and respective predetermined portions of the pressure side and suction side of the airfoil body from the leading edge downstream towards the trailing edge. The predetermined portion of the suction side covered by the leading edge protective strip is less than the predetermined portion of the pressure side covered by the leading edge protective strip.

A thermal barrier coating for an underlying metal substrate of articles that operate at, or are exposed to, high temperatures, as well as being exposed to environmental contaminant compositions. This coating comprises an optional inner layer nearest to the underlying metal substrate comprising a non-alumina ceramic thermal barrier coating material in an amount up to 100%, and an outer layer having an exposed surface and comprising at least about 50% of a non-alumina ceramic thermal barrier coating material and alumina in an amount up to about 50% and sufficient to protect the thermal barrier coating at least partially against environmental contaminants that become deposited on the exposed surface. This coating can be used to provide a thermally protected article having a metal substrate and optionally a bond coat layer adjacent to and overlaying the metal substrate. The thermal barrier coating can be prepared by optionally forming the inner layer of the non-alumina ceramic thermal barrier coating material, and then codepositing the alumina and non-alumina ceramic thermal barrier coating material to form the outer layer.

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West Chester, OH, United States of America

Robert George Baur