Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090200275 | Solid state additive manufacturing system - A process for solid state deposition of a material onto a workpiece includes the steps of providing a rod of metallic deposition material, exerting pressure at one end of the rod to move the metallic deposition material into a deposition zone, rotating the rod while the pressure is being exerted to generate frictional heat when the rod contacts a surface of the workpiece, and raising the temperature of the metallic deposition material to reduce the amount of frictional heat which needs to be generated during the rotating step and to produce a microstructure which is substantially free of porosity and which has a fine grain size. | 08-13-2009 |
20100247322 | INTERNALLY SUPPORTED AIRFOIL AND METHOD FOR INTERNALLY SUPPORTING A HOLLOW AIRFOIL DURING MANUFACTURING - A hollow airfoil and a method for manufacturing a hollow airfoil is provided. The method includes the steps of: providing a first airfoil portion, which first portion has a wall with an interior surface and an exterior surface, and one or more ribs extending out from the interior surface; providing a second airfoil portion having a wall with an interior surface and an exterior surface; wherein the first airfoil portion and the second airfoil portion have mating geometries in which the one or more ribs extend between the interior surfaces of the walls of the first and second airfoil portion to form at least one internal cavity defined by the interior surface of the first portion wall, one or more of the ribs, and the interior surface of the second portion wall, and wherein the airfoil includes at least one exterior port disposed in one of the first airfoil portion or the second airfoil portion, or is formed between the first and second airfoil portions, which at least one exterior port is in fluid communication with the at least one cavity; disposing a support material within the at least one internal cavity allowing the support material to be in contact with the one or more ribs, which support material is operative to structurally support the one or more ribs; attaching the first and second airfoil portions together; and removing the support material from the at least one internal cavity through the at least one exterior port. | 09-30-2010 |
20110123347 | WELDING REPAIR METHOD OF AN INTEGRALLY BLADED ROTOR - A method of repairing a rotor blade, for example on an integrally bladed rotor, includes preparing a surface on a damaged area of the blade. The blade has first and second airfoil surfaces adjoining the prepared surface that are spaced apart a distance. An edge of a patch abuts the prepared surface to provide a weld interface defining a welding plane. First and second cover sheets respectively overlap the first and second airfoil surfaces. The first and second cover sheets adjoin the edge and the first and second airfoil surfaces. The blade, patch and first and second cover sheets are welded along the welding plane providing a welded joint at the weld interface. The first and second cover sheets are substantially unsecured to the first and second airfoil surfaces subsequent to the welding operation. | 05-26-2011 |
20110138624 | CONSUMABLE COLLAR FOR LINEAR FRICTION WELDING OF BLADE REPLACEMENT FOR DAMAGED INTEGRALLY BLADED ROTORS - A method of repairing an integrally bladed rotor includes the steps of placing a support collar around at least a leading and trailing edge portions of the blade stub, and performing linear friction welding to add a replacement airfoil to the blade stub. The linear friction welding is generally along a direction between the leading and trailing edges. In addition, the support collar leading and trailing edge portions are connected together. | 06-16-2011 |
20110138625 | REPAIR OF INTEGRALLY BLADED ROTORS - A method is provided for repairing a damaged rotor blade on an integrally bladed rotor by removing a damaged portion of a damaged blade leaving a blade stub extending outwardly from the disk and performing a linear friction welding operation to attach a replacement blade segment to the blade stub. The rotor may be disposed operation using a linear friction welding apparatus. The method includes disposing a support collar about the blade stub and securing the support collar to the linear friction welding apparatus prior to a commencement of the bonding operation. A lower surface of the support collar is contoured to mate with a portion of an outer circumference surface of the rotor disk. | 06-16-2011 |
20120205348 | SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR LINEAR FRICTION WELDING - A method and apparatus for fixturing an airfoil stub during linear friction welding are described. Critical clamping support structures are manufactured by a direct digital manufacturing process such as direct metal laser sintering to minimize time and expense of the process. | 08-16-2012 |
20120279066 | WELDING Ti-6246 INTEGRALLY BLADED ROTOR AIRFOILS - A method is disclosed for welding a first metal to a Ti-6246 alloy airfoil. The method consists of depositing weld metal by fusion welding and reshaping the airfoil to predetermined dimensions. A post weld heat treatment is applied to relieve residual stresses. Surface treatment such as laser shock peening introduces residual surface compressive stresses to enhance the mechanical integrity of the airfoil. | 11-08-2012 |
20130022339 | LOCAL HEAT TREATMENT OF IBR BLADE USING INFRARED HEATING - A device and method for locally heat treating at least one airfoil in an integrally bladed rotor device. A pair of IR heat sources are positioned to direct IR heat rays in the direction where local heat treatment is required. A pair of parabolic mirrors are positioned to direct the IR heat rays on to the metal component. The heat treating is useful after welding the airfoil on to the rotor device. | 01-24-2013 |