Patent Description:
Gas turbine components, such as turbine blades, often have complex three-dimensional geometries that may have difficult fabrication and repair issues.

The build-up of material on ex-service turbine components, for example during reconditioning, is usually done by conventional build-up welding such as tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding or laser metal forming (LMF). The use of these techniques is limited to materials with acceptable weldability such as for solution-strengthened (e.g. IN625, Heynes230) or gamma-prime strengthened nickel-base superalloys with low to medium amount of Al and Ti (e.g. Haynes282). Nickel-base superalloys with high oxidation resistance and high gamma-prime content (><NUM> Vol. -%), that means with a high combined amount of at least <NUM> wt. - % Al and Ti, such as IN738LC, MarM-<NUM> or CM-247LC are typically difficult to weld and cannot be processed by conventional build-up welding without considerable micro-cracking. The gamma-prime phase has an ordered FCC structure of the L12 type and form coherent precipitates with low surface energy. Due to the coherent interface and the ordered structure, these precipitates are efficient obstructions for dislocation movement and strongly improve the strength of the material even at high temperature. The low surface energy results in a low driving force for growth which is the reason for their long-term high temperature stability. In addition to the formation of gamma-prime phase, the high Al content results in the formation of a stable surface oxide layer resulting in superior high temperature oxidation resistance. Due to the extraordinary high temperature strength and oxidation resistance, these materials are preferably used in highly stressed turbine components. Typical examples of such gamma-prime strengthened nickel-base superalloys are: Mar-M247, CM-247LC, IN100, In738LC, IN792, Mar-M200, B1900, Rene80 and other derivatives.

With conventional build-up welding techniques, for example TIG or LMF these gamma-prime strengthened superalloys can hardly be processed without considerable formation of microcracks.

Different cracking mechanism have been identified in the literature: Cracking can occur during the final stage of solidification, where dendrite formation inhibits the backfilling of liquid, resulting in crack initiation in the isolated sections. This mechanism is called "solidification cracking" (SC). So-called "Liquation cracking" (LC) occurs when dissolution of precipitates in the heat affected zone is retarded due to the fast heat-up during welding. As a result, the precipitates still exist at temperatures where they are not thermodynamically stable and an eutectic composition is formed at the interface region. When the temperature exceeds the relatively low eutectic temperature this interface regions melts and wets the grain boundaries. These weakened grain boundaries cannot anymore accommodate the thermal stresses, resulting in crack formation. Cracking can also occur in the solid state when previously processed layers are reheated to a temperature at which precipitations can form. The precipitation results in stress formation due to volumetric changes, in increased strength and in loss of ductility. Combined with the superimposed thermal stresses, the rupture strength of the material can be locally exceeded and cracking occurs. This mechanism is referred to as "strainage cracking" (SAC).

Due to the high fraction of precipitates and the resulting high mechanical strength, the ability to relax thermal stresses is strongly reduced. For this reason gamma-prime precipitation hardened superalloys are especially prone to these cracking mechanisms and very difficult to weld.

Another issue is that state-of-the-art reconditioning processes often take a long time due to the many process steps involved. In the repair of turbine blades for example, crown plate replacement, tip replacement and/or coupon repair require different process steps. This results in high costs and long lead times.

The efficiency of a gas turbine increases with increasing service temperature. As the temperature capability of the used materials is limited, cooling systems are incorporated into turbine components. Different cooling techniques exist such as film cooling, effusion cooling or transpiration cooling. However, the complexity of the cooling system is limited by the fabrication process. State-of-the-art turbine components are designed with respect to these limited fabrication processes, which impede in most cases the optimal technical solution. Transpiration cooling has currently limited applications, as those porous structure have problems coping with the mechanical and thermal stresses.

Another drawback of conventional turbine blades is that they require the extraction of the cast core and must therefore have an open crown tip. The crown tip must subsequently be closed by letter box brazing, which is an additional critical step during fabrication. Additionally to these geometric restrictions, the state-of-the-art fabrication processes are often limited in the material choice and require castable or weldable material.

It is also known state of the art that abradable coatings or honeycombs are added on vanes and heat shields in order to avoid gas leakage which would result in decreased efficiency. The turbine blade tip cuts into this abradable structure during the running-in process, which results in a good sealing. However, due to the high abrasive effect of the turbine blade tip, the abradable layer is often strongly damaged during this process and therefore often requires complete replacement after each service interval. Due to limited material choice, oxidative losses of tip is a further common problem.

Selective laser melting (SLM) for the direct build-up of material on new or to be repaired/reconditioned turbine components has several advantages and can overcome the shortcomings mentioned above.

Due to the extremely localized melting and the resulting very fast solidification during SLM, segregation of alloying elements and formation of precipitates is considerably reduced. This results in a decreased sensitivity for cracking compared to conventional build-up welding techniques. In contrast to other state-of-the-art techniques, SLM allows the near-net shape processing of non-castable, difficult to machine or difficult to weld materials such as high Al+Ti containing alloys (eg. The use of such high temperature strength and oxidation resistant materials significantly improves the properties of the built-up turbine blade section.

Porosity is a known phenomenon in the field of additive manufacturing, such as SLM. Apart from medical applications, the appearance of porosity is an effect that has to be minimized because porosity affects material properties such as strength, hardness and surface quality negatively. The SLM process parameters are therefore usually, especially for gas turbine components, optimized for highest density. Residual porosity is considered detrimental and therefore unwanted.

In contrast to casting and conventional repair techniques (e.g. build-up welding), SLM offers a much higher design freedom and allows the production of very complex structures ("complexity for free"). In addition, the use of SLM can reduce the amount of process steps, by combination of different repair processes in one single process.

In document <CIT> a method for producing a component with coating areas by means of selective laser melting is disclosed. The coating areas have a composition that differs from the composition of the substrate material. This is accomplished by intermittently introducing a reactive gas that reacts with the powder material during SLM process. Therefore, during production of the component, layer regions arise, which can ensure particular functions of the component, for example a hardened surface.

Document <CIT> describes a method to apply multiple materials with a selective laser melting process which proposes the use of foils/tapes/sheets or three-dimensional reforms instead of different powder for a second and additional material different from the previous (powder based) to be applied. These foils, tapes, sheets or preforms can be applied on different sections / portions of three-dimensional articles, for example on edges with abrasive materials, or on surfaces to improve the heat transfer, so that an adjustment of the microstructure/chemical composition with respect to the desired properties of the component/article can be achieved.

Document <CIT> discloses a method for laser net shape manufacturing a part or repairing an area of a part by deposition a bead of a material, wherein the deposited material may be varied or changed during the deposition such that the bead of material is formed of different materials.

Document <CIT> describes a method for manufacturing a component or a coupon by means of selective laser melting SLM with an aligned grain size distribution dependent on the distribution of the expected temperature and/or stress and /or strain of the component during service/operation such that the lifetime of the component is improved with respect to a similar component with substantially uniform grain size.

<CIT> relates to a process for the production by selective laser melting (SLM) of crack-free and dense three-dimensional articles made of a gamma-prime precipitation-strengthened nickel-base superalloy, comprising more than <NUM> wt. - % of [<NUM> Al (wt. -%) + Ti (wt.

<CIT> relates to a method for additively manufacturing an article made of a difficult-to-weld highly-precipitation-strengthened Ni-base super alloy that comprises Al and Ti in the sum of more than <NUM> wt.

XP055528421 is a disclosure referring to Siemens gas turbines made by selective laser melting.

<CIT> relates to a porous structure comprising beam-shaped elements, which consist of linearly passing beam-shaped elements and curved beam-shaped elements. Contrary to the invention, <CIT> does not refer to a turbine blade crown comprising a dense inner layer including cooling channels.

The present invention is now to be explained more closely by means of different embodiments and with reference to the attached drawings.

The invention is a build-up of a blade crown <NUM> of a gas turbine blade tip <NUM> and heat shield <NUM> by SLM with selectively adjusted pore structure <NUM> to reduce wear by the resulting decreased abrasivity. <FIG> demonstrate this first embodiment of the invention, <FIG> shows the optimal sealing even after running in process with minimized damage of the bade tip <NUM> and the heat shield <NUM>.

To get high efficiency, the gas leak between the blade tip <NUM> and the heat shield <NUM> must be minimized (see <FIG>). A good sealing is commonly achieved by a grind in process of the turbine blade during heat-up, caused by thermal expansion. Generally, the blade crown <NUM> is designed as abrasive component, which runs into heat shield <NUM> designed as abradable. Thermal cycles during service result in a varying distance between the blade tip <NUM> and the shroud <NUM>. The blade tip <NUM> can occasionally touch the shroud <NUM> and the resulting rubbing damages the blade tip <NUM> and the head shield <NUM>. Increasing the gap width would result in higher leaking and lower efficiency and is not desired.

An optimal design matching of the abradable and the abrasive is required to obtain an effective, long lasting tip sealing. In addition, several other properties such as oxidation resistance need to be considered, which can inhibit optimal abrasive / abradable interaction. Furthermore, limitation in state-of the art fabrication processes also inhibit optimal material selection, escpecially during reconditioning of gas turbine components.

An implementation of this invention is the fabrication of a blade crown <NUM> with increasing porosity towards the blade tip using selective laser melting. The advantage of this set-up is twofold: By using SLM for the build-up process, materials can be applied which cannot be processed by conventional repair methods. Furthermore, the in-situ generation of secondary phase particles allows an optimal tuning of the wear / abrasion behavior between the abrasive and abradable. This can reduce the excessive damage of the abradable during running-in process.

In another implementation, secondary phase particles are incorporated, which result in a solid-state self-lubrication.

The porosity can be introduced either as designed structure in the 3D CAD model, which is then reproduced during SLM build up or by adjustment of the process parameter (eg. Laser power, Scan velocity, Hatch distance, Layer thickness) in a way that the resulting structure is not completely dense.

Two examples for porosity generated by process parameter adjustment according to the disclosed method are shown in <FIG> for the nickel base superalloy IN738LC.

<FIG> shows a microstructure with high porosity for the following process parameter:.

<FIG> shows a microstructure with medium porosity for the following process.

An additional implementation (see <FIG>) incorporates active effusion / transpiration cooling <NUM> of the built-up section by incorporation of open porosity in the SLM fabricated turbine section by adjusting the process parameters. The open porous section <NUM> can either stand alone or being built upon a dense structure <NUM> to increase the mechanical stability. In the second case (see <FIG>), the cooling air is supplied to the open porous section <NUM> by cooling holes <NUM>. The dense section <NUM> can either be already present (eg. from casting) or be fabricated already incorporating the cooling holes <NUM> in the same single SLM process together with porous part <NUM>. This allows the easy preparation of combined effusion/transpiration and/or near wall cooling in one single process step.

Different types of such channels <NUM> can be incorporated in the built-up section. The cooling air is finely distributed in the porous layer and homogenously exits the surface resulting in efficient transpiration cooling of the blade surface. The open-porous structure shows a lower thermal conductivity as when dense, which further reduces the thermal loading of the dense structural layer. An open-porous thermal barrier coating can be applied to the open-porous surface layer in order to further decrease the temperature loading without inhibiting transpiration cooling.

The cooling channels <NUM> can stop at the interface to the open-porous layer or partly or fully penetrate the open-porous layer. Different types of such channels <NUM> can be incorporated in the built-up section.

<FIG> shows as an example a part of a repaired turbine blade for an ex-service component. The original blade structure <NUM> with existing cooling holes <NUM> is covered with a dense, by means of SLM built-up structure <NUM> with incorporated cooling holes <NUM>, <NUM>' which can extend into the SLM built-up open-porous blade crown <NUM>. The disclosed method avoids the need for letter-box brazing and allows the incorporation of cooling features into the crown with one single process, that means the built up dense structure <NUM> with incorporated cooling holes /channels <NUM>,<NUM>' and the built up open-porous blade crown <NUM> are built in one single SLM process. This is an important advantage.

In order not to fill existing cooling channels with metal powder, the blade opening is filled with a polymeric substance and an inorganic filler material which is burned out after the SLM process in an subsequent heat treatment step. This procedure allows the continuation of existing cooling channels, respectively the connection of a more complex and sophisticated cooling concept (e.g. transpiration cooling) in the built-up section the air supply in the base component. The design of the built-up section is optimized for the fabrication with the SLM process and avoids sharp edges or big overhanging areas.

In combination with the above-described blade crown an abradable counter-part with selectively tailored porosity can be built up with SLM to reduce wear at the blade tip and optimize the blade tip sealing as for example the a fabrication of a heat shield with increasing porosity towards the heat shield surface at the blade tip contact region using SLM. Thereby, the abradability of the heat shield can be selectively increased at the contact region of the blade tip, without decreasing the materials properties at other locations. With an optimized geometric introduction of the porosity, the wear of the blade tip can be reduced without compromising the sealing behaviour. (see <FIG>).

In another implementation, porosity can be introduced to decrase heat conductivity and thereby increasing insulation properties of the heat shield.

A second embodiment is transpiration cooling of the turbine blade by a layered structure fabricated by a single additive manufacturing process (see.

The inner layer <NUM> of the blade wall consists of fully dense material with incorporated cooling channels <NUM> in order to provide mechanical strength and cooling air supply to second, open-porous layer <NUM>. The air (illustrated with arrows) introduced into the outer, open-porous layer results in transpiration cooling <NUM> of the outer blade surface resulting in an efficient shielding of the surface from the hot gases. In combination with the reduced thermal conductivity of the porous layer <NUM>, the thermal loading on the inner structural layer is considerably reduced.

If required, an additional open-porous ceramic thermal barrier coating <NUM> can be applied on the porous metal layer <NUM> in a second process step to provide an additional, also transpiration cooled thermal barrier.

The cooling channels <NUM> can stop at the interface to the open-porous layer or partly or fully penetrate the open-porous layer <NUM>, <NUM>. Different types of such channels <NUM> can be incorporated in the built-up section.

In another embodiment it is also possible to apply an outer dense layer of the base material on the porous metal layer <NUM>.

This embodiment refers to a separation of porous structures to prevent penetration of hotgas.

The gas temperature plot along the airfoil illustrates the extend of secondary flows in the hotgas passage. This has an influence on the turbine blade cooling and the material distribution in the blade. Corresponding lines of constant pressure can be shown (not illustrated here). Where such lines are dense the pressure gradients are high. In those areas the open porous structure shall be interrupted by solid ribs <NUM> which have the effect of a cross-flow barrier to prevent hotgas migration. The ribs <NUM> separate the suction side <NUM> from the pressure side <NUM>. This can be seen in <FIG>, which shows a turbine blade tip analog to <FIG>.

Additional implementations are shown in <FIG> and <FIG>. <FIG> is analog to <FIG>, but with the arrangement of different ribs <NUM> as cross-flow barriers in the open-porous metal layer <NUM>. <FIG> shows the component after manufacturing / short service time with an intact surface, <FIG> shows the same component after service with damaged areas <NUM>. Such areas <NUM> can be oxidation areas or areas of FOD (Foreign Object Damage). The ribs <NUM> are a barrier in streamwise direction after oxidation and or FOD.

A further embodiment is an airfoil extension with foam-type structures to prevent adding mass.

<FIG> shows in the left part an airfoil <NUM>,<NUM>' of a turbine blade and in the right part an airfoil <NUM>, <NUM>' of a compressor blade with the flow path contours of turbine and compressor, before (continuous line for the existing cross section) and after (dotted line for the modified cross section) increase of flow passage. Such flow passage is done to cope with increased massflow. The pull forces on the rotor are limited and a light-weight extension of the airfoil <NUM>, <NUM>' might be required. <NUM> is the existing airfoil, <NUM>' the modified airfoil. This can be achieved with porous structures described before and applied with a justified SLM process. Details of <FIG> are shown in <FIG>.

In the left part of <FIG> the airfoil <NUM> is shown with the original length L, in the right part of <FIG> the extended airfoil <NUM>' is shown with an extra length EL. A light weight structure core structure <NUM> compensates the extra length EL. The core structure is here partly embedded with a solid shell structure <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A method for producing a new or repairing a used and damaged turbine blade crown made of a gamma prime (γ') precipitation hardened nickel base superalloy with a volume fraction of more than <NUM> % of gamma-prima phase, the method comprising the step of:
a) providing a turbine blade comprising a dense inner layer (<NUM>) including cooling channels (<NUM>) designed for guiding a cooling medium to the open porous outer layer, which cooling channels either end at the interface to the open porous outer layer or partly or fully penetrate the open-porous outer layer;
b) filling with a polymeric substance and an inorganic filler material the cooling channels (<NUM>);
c) building upon the dense inner layer (<NUM>) an open-porous outer layer (<NUM>), wherein the building of the outer layer (<NUM>) is performed by selective laser melting of layerwise deposited metal powder with a laser beam;
d) applying a subsequent heat treatment step for further adjustment of the microstructure and for burning out the polymeric substance and an inorganic introduced into the cooling channels (<NUM>) before the selective laser melting step of building of the outer layer (<NUM>);
e) applying onto the open porous surface a thermal barrier coating layer is onto the open porous outer layer;
wherein the selective laser melting processing parameters are selectively adjusted to locally tailor the microstructure and porosity of the produced article;
wherein the tailored microstructure comprises in-situ generated second phase particles, preferably hard-phase particle or solid lubricants,
which are at least partly generated by supplying during the selective laser melting processing a reactive gas;
wherein during the selective laser melting processing the composition of the reactive gas is actively changed.