General Electric Company

William R Butts

Swami Ganesh

Thomas John Tomlinson

Peter John Linko, Iii

Raymond D Rife

Charles E Glynn

Susan L Awalt

A method for preparing a heat-treated article made of a superalloy, such as a turbine disk preform, includes furnishing an article made of a superalloy that is prone to quench cracking, usually after forging the article, and thereafter covering at least a portion of the article with a quench cladding having a thickness of at least about 1/8 inch so that the quench cladding is in direct thermal contact with the article. The quench cladding may be conveniently applied to the article by thermal spraying, which produces direct thermal contact between the quench cladding and the article, or by placing the article into the envelope of the quench cladding material and hot isostatically pressing to achieve a direct thermal contact between the envelope and the article. After the quench cladding is in place, the clad article is heated to elevated temperature and quenched from the elevated temperature to a lower temperature, and the envelope is removed. By reducing the thermal gradient at the surface of the article and by reducing the oxidation embrittlement of the surface of the article, the quench cladding aids in reducing the incidence and severity of quench cracks. The quench cladding may be applied over the entire surface of the article, or only over the most crack-prone regions.

Minimization of quench cracking of superalloys

An improved lightweight composite article comprises a base portion and a spaced apart cap portion between which is secured a body portion comprising a plurality of thin metallic ribbons secured between the base portion and cap portion. The ribbons are disposed in substantially unbonded, aligned relationship at an upper wall portion which is integral with the cap portion formed from top edge extensions of the ribbons. The cap portion is disposed angularly to the body portion to provide one boundary of interstices defined within the member. Such a lightweight, porous-type member can be provided with a relatively smooth, substantially continuous surface through the rubbing or smearing of portions of the member surface with a smooth, relatively hard moving rubbing surface such as the peripheral smooth rim surface of a rotating wheel.

Method for making lightweight composite article

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Milford, OH, United States of America

William R Butts