Patent ID: 8894378

Claim:
A method for sealing a gap between a bucket dovetail and a rotor wheel slot, comprising: providing a bucket tab associated with a bucket dovetail, wherein the bucket tab is configured to accept a seal tab, the seal tab having a spring deformable tab and a non-deformable portion, wherein the spring deformable tab has a greater thickness than a thickness of the non-deformable portion; configuring the bucket tab and the seal tab to engage at least one dimension upon insertion of the seal tab into the bucket tab by defining a slot with at least a first section and a second section in the bucket tab, wherein the second section comprises a slot width greater than a slot width associated with the first section, and the spring deformable tab of the seal tab is operable to engage with and be retained in the second section of the bucket tab; and sealing a gap between the bucket dovetail and a rotor wheel slot with the seal tab by contacting the rotor wheel slot with the seal tab; wherein at least a portion of the seal tab changes as a function of temperature for further sealing gap between the bucket dovetail and the rotor wheel slot.