High-pressure turbine blade and procedure for repair of high-pressure turbine blades

1. A method for repairing high pressure turbine blades, comprising the following steps:

separating a damaged section of a high pressure turbine blade from a remaining blade section to define a section plane on the remaining blade section;

determining a contour of the remaining blade section at the section plane;

covering the remaining blade section to a predetermined height over the section plane with unfused powder to form a powder bed of unfused powder, the powder bed of unfused powder simultaneously covering the remaining blade section to the predetermined height over the section plane with unfused powder and surrounding the remaining blade section around a perimeter of the remaining blade section below the section plane with unfused powder; and

generating a replacement layer for the damaged section on the remaining blade section from the powder bed using a laser beam to illuminate a first portion of the unfused powder covering the remaining blade section to selectively build up a fused powder layer on the remaining blade section;

covering the remaining blade section to the predetermined height over the replacement layer with the unfused powder to form a subsequent powder bed of unfused powder at least one further time; and

generating one or more subsequent replacement layers for the damaged section on the remaining blade section from each subsequent powder bed using the laser beam to illuminate a second portion of the unfused powder covering the remaining blade section to selectively build up one or more additional fused powder layers on the remaining blade section until the damaged section is replaced by the replacement layer and the one or more subsequent replacement layers.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of separating the damaged section of the high pressure turbine blade further comprises:

determining at least one standardized section plane; and

separating the damaged section from the remaining blade section in correspondence to the standardized section plane.

3. A method according to claim 2 , further comprising the steps:

measuring the actual contour of the remaining blade section to be repaired in the section plane; and

wherein this step occurs at one of before the step of generating a replacement layer and after the step of separating the damaged section of the high pressure turbine blade.

4. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising, after the step of separating the damaged section and before the step of generating a replacement layer, the following steps:

placing the remaining blade section in a facility of the type used for rapid manufacturing using direct laser beam generation.

5. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising, after the step of generating the replacement layer by means of laser beam generation from the powder bed of unfused powder, the following steps:

finishing an outer contour of the replacement layer.

6. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising, after at least one of the steps of i) generating the replacement layer using laser beam generation from the powder bed and ii) finishing the outer contour of the replacement layer, at least one of the following steps:

aluminizing the high pressure turbine blade; and

laser-drilling the high pressure turbine blade.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein at least one of the steps of i) aluminizing the high pressure turbine blade and ii) laser-drilling the high pressure turbine blade, is performed in the area of the replacement layer or one or more subsequent replacement layers.

8. A method for repairing high pressure turbine blades, comprising the following steps:

determining at least one standardized section plane in a high pressure turbine blade;

separating a damaged section of a high pressure turbine blade from a remaining blade section to be repaired, the separation occurring along the at least one standardized section plane;

measuring an actual contour of the blade section to be repaired along the at least one standardized section plane;

determining, at the section plane, a contour of the remaining blade section;

covering the remaining blade section to a predetermined height over the standardized section plane with unfused powder to form a powder bed of unfused powder, the powder bed of unfused powder simultaneously covering the remaining blade section to the predetermined height over the standardized section plane with unfused powder and surrounding the remaining blade section around a perimeter of the remaining blade section below the standardized section plane with unfused powder; and

generating a replacement section for the damaged section on the remaining blade section from the powder bed using a laser beam to selectively illuminate a first section of the unfused powder covering the remaining blade section to selectively build up a fused powder layer on the remaining blade section.

9. A method according to claim 8 , wherein the step of generating a replacement section further comprises placing the remaining blade section in a facility for direct laser beam generation from the powder bed of unfused powder.

10. A method according to claim 8 , wherein the step of generating a replacement section further comprises:

a) covering the remaining blade section with unfused powder in the powder bed to a predetermined powder height over the standardized section plane;

b) illuminating the unfused powder covering the standardized section plane with a laser beam to build up a layer of the remaining blade using selective laser melting; and

repeating steps a) and b) until the replacement section is complete.

11. A method according to claim 10 , wherein the predetermined powder height over the section plane is within the range from about 200 μm to about 10 μm.

12. A method according to claim 10 , wherein the predetermined powder height over the section plane is within not greater than 10 μm.

13. A method according to claim 8 , further comprising, after the step of generating the replacement section, the following steps:

finishing the outer contour of the replacement section.

14. A method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of forming cooling air holes in the replacement section after the step of generating the replacement section.

15. A method according to claim 14 , wherein the cooling air holes are formed using one of i) laser drilling; ii) EDM and iii) EC drilling.

16. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined powder height over the section plane is within the range from about 200 μm to about 10 μm.

17. A method according to claim 1 wherein the predetermined powder height over the section plane is within not greater than 10 μm.

18. A method for repairing high pressure turbine blades, including:

separating a damaged section of each of a plurality of high pressure turbine blades from a remaining blade section to define a section plane on each of the remaining blade sections and placing the remaining blade sections of the plurality of high pressure turbine blades in a processing enclosure;

filling the processing enclosure with unfused powder to a predetermined height above the section plane of at least one of the remaining blade sections to form a powder bed of unfused powder, the unfused powder simultaneously covering the remaining blade section to a predetermined height above the section plane and surrounding the remaining blade section around a perimeter of the remaining blade section below the section plane with unfused powder;

generating a replacement layer for the damaged section of the at least one remaining blade section of at least one of the high pressure turbine blades from the powder bed of unfused powder using a laser beam to illuminate a first portion of the unfused powder to selectively build up a fused powder layer on the remaining blade section;

covering the remaining blade section to the predetermined height over the replacement layer with the unfused powder to form a subsequent powder bed of unfused powder at least one further time; and

generating one or more subsequent replacement layers for the damaged section on the remaining blade section from each subsequent powder bed using the laser beam to illuminate a section portion of the unfused powder covering the remaining blade section to selectively build up one or more additional fused powder layers on the remaining blade section until the damaged section is replaced by the replacement layer and the one or more subsequent replacement layers.

19. A method according to claim 18 , wherein the predetermined powder height over the section plane is within the range from about 200 μm to about 10 μm.

20. A method according to claim 18 wherein the predetermined powder height over the section plane is within not greater than 10 μm.