Patent ID: 7231713

Claim:
A method of reconditioning a rotating turbine blade in a blade row following operation in a gas turbine, the turbine blade including a blade shroud for sealing between the tip of the blade and a stationary component positioned radially opposite of the tip of the blade, the shroud having a shroud platform, front and back knife-edges extending along the edges of the shroud platform in the circumferential direction and in the radial direction away from the shroud platform with respect to the turbine, the shroud platform, the knife-edges, and the stationary component defining a shroud cavity, the shroud having two ends each facing a shroud of an adjacent blade in the blade row, and the shroud element including a first region having a creep deformation following operation of the blade and a second region having no deformation following the operation of the blade, the method comprising: applying a barrier to the edge of the second region of the shroud having no deformation where the barrier extends from the front knife-edge to the back knife-edge of the shroud and faces the shroud of the adjacent blade; and reducing the mass of the shroud by a mass equal to or greater than the mass of the applied barrier.