General Electric Company

Scott A Welsh

Warren Davis Grossklaus, Jr

Howard John Farr

Jim D Reeves

Charles Richard Evans

Patricia A Charles

Jack W Baldwin

Jerald M Kauffman

Eric C Hemsath

Randall L Hobbs

The present invention provides a process for the lay-up of a composite laminate article, the article produced by this process, and the apparatus used to produce the composite laminate article. The composite laminate article may be, for example, an airfoil, particularly useful as a fan blade in a large high bypass ratio turbofan engine, wherein the blade is generally regarded as large and having a high degree of twist. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a process for laying up a composite laminate article comprising a) reading a data set to enable the projection of an image of a ply section onto a work surface, the image indicating a ply section target point; b) laying up a ply section of composite laminating material within the image, wherein the ply section first contacts the work surface at the target point; and c) repeating steps (a)-(b) until the composite laminate article is complete. In a second preferred embodiment, the present invention provides for a lamination apparatus for use in making a composite laminate article comprising a work surface for receiving, in a predetermined sequence, a plurality of ply sections of composite laminating material; a laser projection system using predetermined projection points for outlining an image of a ply section onto the work surface, the image further indicating a ply section target point for making first contact of the ply section with the work surface; and a data set for providing the predetermined projection points to the laser projection system.

Laser projection system to facilitate layup of complex composite shapes

A method of removing metallic compositions, such as abradable rub coatings, environmental coatings, bond coats and braze alloys, from the surface of a cobalt-base substrate, such as turbine shrouds and vanes of gas turbine engines. The method is particularly suited for the removal of nickel-base braze alloys and aluminum-containing coatings, the latter of which includes abradable MCrAlY coatings and environmentally-protective diffusion aluminide coatings. The process generally entails contacting such metallic compositions with an aqueous solution containing hydrochloric acid and nitric acid and at a solution temperature of about 130.degree. F. to about 180.degree. F. The solution completely removes nickel-base alloys and aluminum-containing compositions from a cobalt-base substrate without removal or damage to the underlying substrate.

Method for chemically stripping a cobalt-base substrate

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Scott A Welsh