Patent ID: 8720526

Claim:
A process for forming an airfoil for a gas turbine engine comprising: forming a casting of a gas turbine engine airfoil having a main wall comprising a concave side wall and a convex side wall and defining an interior cavity between the concave side wall and the convex side wall, the main wall having a wall thickness extending from an external surface of the main wall to an internal surface of the main wall adjacent to the interior cavity, an outer radial section of the main wall having a wall thickness greater than a final thickness; collecting, using a thickness measuring device, non-destructive first wall thickness data of the casting at the main wall outer section; comparing, using a computer system, the collected first wall thickness data with stored model thickness data to determine an initial amount of wall thickness material to be removed from the casting along the main wall outer section; effecting movement of a material removal apparatus and the casting relative to one another such that a first layer of material is removed from the casting at a plurality of radial portions along the main wall outer section; thereafter, collecting, using the thickness measuring device, non-destructive second wall thickness data of the casting at the main wall outer section; comparing, using the computer system, the collected second wall thickness data with the stored model thickness data to determine an additional amount of wall thickness material to be removed along the main wall outer section; and effecting movement of the material removal apparatus and the casting relative to one another such that a second layer of material is removed from a subset of the plurality of radial portions along the main wall outer section.