Hot isostatic pressing apparatus and hot isostatic pressing methods for reducing surface-area chemical degradation on an article of manufacture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10583486-B2
Application number	US-201715397950-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2017
Priority date	Jan 4, 2017
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

A method for hot isostatic pressing includes the steps of providing or obtaining an article of manufacture, which optionally includes a copper or nickel alloy, disposing the article of manufacture in a shroud, the shroud defining an enclosed volume wherein the article of manufacture is disposed, the shroud being configured as a multi-piece joined structure to retard gaseous mass transport from outside the shroud to inside the enclosed volume, disposing the shroud in a containment vessel of a hot isostatic pressing apparatus and disposing a getter material in the shroud and/or in the containment vessel, and introducing an inert gas at an elevated temperature and pressure into the containment vessel for hot isostatic pressing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for hot isostatic pressing comprising the steps of:
providing or obtaining a solid, non-powdered article of manufacture, which comprises a metal alloy or a ceramic;
disposing the article of manufacture in a shroud, the shroud defining a first enclosed volume wherein the article of manufacture is disposed, the shroud being configured as a multi-piece joined structure that retards gaseous mass transport from outside the shroud to inside the first enclosed volume;
disposing the shroud in a containment vessel of a hot isostatic pressing apparatus and disposing a getter material in the containment vessel but outside of the shroud, the containment vessel outside of the shroud defining a second enclosed volume;
withdrawing or evacuating standard atmospheric gasses from within the containment vessel; and
introducing an inert gas at an elevated temperature and pressure into the containment vessel for hot isostatic pressing,
wherein upon introducing the inert gas at the elevated temperature, the shroud inhibits gaseous mass transport from the second enclosed volume to the first enclosed volume such that the inert gas in the second enclosed volume maintains a higher temperature than the inert gas in the first enclosed volume for a period of time of ten minutes to ten hours, and wherein the temperature of the inert gas within the first enclosed volume increases during the period of time until the temperature of the inert gasses in the first and second enclosed volumes substantially equalize at the end of the period of time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the article of manufacture comprises a rotating machine, and wherein the article of manufacture is provided in a solid, non-powdered form.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of disposing the shroud in a further shroud and disposing the further shroud in the containment vessel of the hot isostatic pressing apparatus.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inert gas comprises argon and the getter material is titanium or zirconium, wherein the getter material is provided to remove any reactive gasses-that are present in the containment vessel.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the article of manufacture undergoes hot isostatic pressing for a period of time, and wherein the article of manufacture experiences a lesser degree of surface area chemical degradation due to the reactive gasses as compared to conventional hot isostatic pressing.

6. A hot isostatic pressing apparatus comprising:
a sealable containment vessel comprising a first gaseous atmosphere comprising an inert gas and trace amounts of a reactive gas, the first gaseous atmosphere being at a first temperature and a first pressure, wherein the containment vessel has standard atmospheric gasses withdrawn therefrom;
a first shroud disposed in the containment vessel, the first shroud defining a first enclosed volume, wherein the first shroud is configured as a multi-piece joined structure that retards gaseous mass transport from outside the first shroud to inside the first enclosed volume, the containment vessel outside of the first shroud defining a second enclosed volume;
a getter material disposed within the containment vessel but outside of the first shroud, wherein the getter material has an amount of the reactive gas chemically or physically adsorbed thereto; and
a solid, non-powdered metal alloy or ceramic article of manufacture having a surface area disposed in the first enclosed volume of the first shroud,
wherein at the first temperature and the first pressure, the shroud inhibits gaseous mass transport from the second enclosed volume to the first enclosed volume such that the inert gas in the second enclosed volume is at a higher temperature than the inert gas in the first enclosed volume, and wherein the hot isostatic pressing apparatus is configured to maintain the second enclosed volume at the higher temperature for a period of time of ten minutes to ten hours during which time the temperature in the first enclosed volume is configured to increase such that the first and second enclosed volumes substantially equalize in temperature after the period of time.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising a second shroud, the second shroud defining an enclosed volume within which the first shroud is disposed.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the getter material is further incorporated within the enclosed volume of the second shroud, wherein the getter material has an amount of the reactive gas chemically or physically adsorbed thereto.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the article of manufacture is a component of a rotating machine, optionally a turbine wheel or disk, and wherein the article of manufacture comprises a metal alloy.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of: an oxygen-containing gas, a carbon-containing gas, and a nitrogen-containing gas; and wherein the getter material is selected from the group consisting of: titanium and zirconium.

11. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein (a) the containment vessel comprises a non-reactive material disposed anywhere around, about, underneath, or over the first shroud; wherein (b) the first shroud comprises a stop-off material positioned in any manner within the first shroud about, around, underneath, or over the article of manufacture; or both (a) and (b).

12. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first shroud comprises the multi-piece joined structure that is joined together using a double-walled lip.

13. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the article of manufacture comprises a copper alloy or a nickel alloy.

14. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the article of manufacture comprises a turbine wheel or turbine disk.

15. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the reactive gas comprises oxygen (O 2 ).

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the non-reactive material comprises silica sand.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shroud comprises a ceramic material.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Gatto Christopher David
• Cobb James J
• Moreth Aaron
• Holmes Alex
• Hann Brian

Classifications

• B22F5/009

  of turbine components other than turbine blades (of turbine blades B22F5/04) · CPC title

• B22F2003/153

  apparatus specific to HIP · CPC title

• B22F3/1007

  Atmosphere (B22F3/1021 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B22F2301/15

  Nickel or cobalt · CPC title

• B22F3/15 Primary

  Hot isostatic pressing · CPC title