Method for repairing turbine components

1. A method for repairing a precision casted turbine blade having an airfoil with a pressure side and a suction side with a wall thickness and internal cooling channels, a tip having a tip crown with a crown plate and a squealer and at least one letterbox which was closed by brazing during new-part manufacturing, wherein a letterbox area was damaged during operation in the first life cycle of the blade, said method comprising:

a) removing the damaged letterbox area together with an appropriate tip crown; then

b) building-up the pressure and suction side of the airfoil by welding to a sufficient height; then

c) CNC machining of the airfoil to a height of a bottom side of the crown plate; then

d) electrical discharge machining (EDM) of an inner contour of the weld build-up including an exact opening geometry of an internal cavity; then

e) inserting an exactly fitting closure plate into the opening machined in d) and fixing the closure plate by spot welding; then

f) selecting a weld filler dependent on required properties and over-welding completely the closure plate such that the closure plate itself is re-melted and absorbed into a liquid weld pool mainly formed by the selected weld filler, thereby building-up the crown plate; then

g) welding the squealer of the tip and then

h) restoring the inner and outer contour of the blade by grinding, wherein building-up in b) comprises:

a weld build-up of the pressure side and suction side walls with an increasing wall thickness (w) along the build-up, so that a wall thickness (w 2 ) at a level of the spot welded closure plate in e) is greater than a wall thickness (w 1 ) at a level of the machined/winded blade in a).

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein removing in a) comprises:

machining or grinding out the damaged letterbox area completely, including a braze-influenced zone from new-part manufacturing and a local damage zone from operation during the first life cycle of the blade.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the depth of a cut-out in a) is up to 5 mm below the letterbox and an opening angle for the cut-out is in a range of 100 to 120° with a radius R3.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the wall thickness (w 2 ) is up to two times of the wall thickness (w 1 ).

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein selecting a weld filler in b) and/or f) comprises:

selecting a weld filler suited for a buffer weld.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein different materials for the weld fillers in b), f) and/or g) are used dependent on the operational demands of the welds, with one or any combinations of weld filler materials being selected with high oxidation resistance, high strength or high weldability.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the material for the closure plate is selected dependent on operational demands.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein Hastelloy X or Haynes 230 is used as material for the closure plate.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein TIG welding, MAG welding or laser welding are applied in the process.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the laser welding is an automated laser welding with an optical scanner for a laser beam for adjusting weld bed thickness and thus local wall thickness of a weld build-up during processing.