General Electric Company

William R Young

Stephen Joseph Ferrigno

Jerry Donald Schell

Jogender Singh

Wilbur Douglas Scheidt

Vanon D Pratt

Eric J Whitney

Murray S Smith, Jr

Robert Dzugan

Roger J Perkins

Marc J Froning

Robert E Fryxell

Mark Somerville

A rotary seal member, such as a gas turbine engine blade, is provided with an improved surface layer which has an elastic modulus matched with the elastic modulus of a substrate of the member. Also, the surface layer does not form a brittle intermetallic with the substrate at an intended operating temperature. In one form, the surface layer includes abrasive particles adapted to inhibit chemical reaction with the layer material. One specific example is a Ti-alloy substrate having a metallurgically bonded layer based on Nb, and including cubic boron nitride abrasive particles coated with cobalt entrapped in the layer.

Method for making a rotary seal membrane

Rotary seal member and method for making

A superalloy article is fabricated by casting a high melting temperature superalloy composition and then refurbishing the primary defects that are found in the surface of the cast piece. The article is refurbished by excising the primary defects and a surrounding portion of metal by grinding, filling the excised volume with metal of the same composition as the cast article by welding or a similar technique, smoothing the surface around any resulting filler metal defects, and applying a cladding powder to the surface from which the filler metal defects are removed. The cladding powder is applied by painting a binder onto the surface and then dusting cladding powder onto the binder before it has dried. The cladding powder is a mixture of particles of a high melting temperature superalloy and particles of a lower melting temperature metal. The article is heated to a preselected temperature, depending on the alloy, to melt and subsequently solidify the cladding powder. Finally, the article is hot isostatically pressed to achieve final closure of surface defects.

Fabrication of cast articles from high melting temperature superalloy

A laser plasma spray apparatus for depositing a feed material onto a substrate includes a nozzle having a plasma confinement chamber into which a laser beam is focused, the focal point being at a distance sufficiently far from the substrate that the substrate is not melted. Finely divided feed material in a carrier gas flow is fed axially into the confinement chamber along the direction of the laser beam and melted in the plasma formed in the interaction of the laser beam, the feed material, and the gas at the focal point. The melted feed material is then directed to deposit onto the substrate, while the plasma energy is largely confined within the apparatus by the confinement chamber and a constriction in the flow path upstream of the confinement chamber.

Axial flow laser plasma spraying

An improved mixture of alloy powders is provied for use in treating a preselected article alloy, for example, to repair or join multiple components of the article. The mixture has at least three distinct groups of alloy powders which together define a mixture composition range, with each alloy powder of the groups characterized by a composition and melting range different from the others and from the article alloy. In a preferred form, the mixture composition range comprises, by weight, 15-30% Cr, 1.5-6% W, 0.4-4% Al, 1-11% Ti, 1-6% Ta, up to 1.5% B, up to 0.5% Si, up to 0.2% Zr, up to 3% Mo, up to 0.3% Hf, up to 6% Cb, up to 2% Re, with the balance selected from Co and Ni along with incidental impurities.

Alloy powder mixture for treating alloys

A powder mixture for use in a method of repairing a superalloy article includes first and second Ni base superalloy powders. The first powder, characterized by superior hot corrosive resistance along with good oxidation resistance and the substantial absence of melting point depressants selected from Si and B greater than normal impurity levels, is included in the range of 30-70 wt % of the mixture. The second powder has a composition substantially within the same composition range as that of the first powder with the inclusion, by wt, of 0.5-5% B and up to 6% Si.

Homogenous alloy powder

A property, such as ductility, mechanical strength and increased remelt temperature, of an alloy, for example one which includes an element such as Si or B, or both, is improved by depletion of such an element through the alloy surface. This is accomplished by exposing the alloy surface, one common form of which is a brazing alloy, to gaseous ions such as fluoride ions, while heating the alloy at a temperature which is not detrimental to the alloy or members associated with the alloy. Heating is conducted for a time sufficient for such elements, for example those selected from Si and B, included as a melting point depressant, to diffuse to the surface of the alloy and to react with the gaseous ions to form a gaseous compound of the element. Such gaseous compound then separates from the surface, thereby depleting the alloy of the element and improving at least one property.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

William R Young