Patent ID: 8726501

Claim:
A method for depositing material on a turbine airfoil, wherein the turbine airfoil comprises a tip wall extending past a tip cap, and wherein the tip wall comprises a first alloy with a single crystal microstructure, the method comprising: depositing a second alloy on the tip wall by laser fusing the second alloy to form a repair structure, wherein a high temperature oxidation resistance of the second alloy is greater than a high temperature oxidation resistance of the first alloy; and controlling a pulse frequency of the laser at a frequency of 5 Hz, a duty cycle of the laser, a power of the laser to between about 50 W and about 1200 W, a wavelength of the laser to between about 0.01 to about 100 microns, a translation speed of the laser to between about 0.01 cm/s to about 100 cm/s, and a feed rate of the second alloy between about 0.1 g/min to about 10 g/min so that the repair structure has a single crystal microstructure that is substantially the same as the single crystal microstructure of the tip wall.