Dual alloy bladed rotors suitable for usage in gas turbine engines and methods for the manufacture thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017138206-A1
Application number	US-201514939360-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 12, 2015
Priority date	Nov 12, 2015
Publication date	May 18, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Dual alloy bladed rotors are provided, as are methods for manufacturing dual alloy bladed rotors. In one embodiment, the method includes arranging bladed pieces in a ring formation such that contiguous bladed pieces contact along shank-to-shank bonding interfaces. The ring formation is positioned around a hub disk, which is contacted by the bladed pieces along a shank-to-hub bonding interface. A metallic sealing material is deposited between contiguous bladed pieces utilizing, for example, a laser welding process to produce an annular seal around the ring formation. A hermetic cavity is then formed, which is circumferentially bounded by the annular seal and which encloses the shank-to-shank and shank-to-hub bonding interface. Afterwards, a Hot Isostatic Pressing process is performed during which the ring formation and the hub disk are exposed to elevated pressures external to the hermetic cavity sufficient to diffusion bond the shank-to-shank and shank-to-hub bonding interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for manufacturing a bladed rotor, the method comprising:
arranging bladed pieces in a ring formation such that contiguous bladed pieces contact along shank-to-shank bonding interfaces; positioning the ring formation around a hub disk having an outer circumferential surface contacted by the bladed pieces along a shank-to-hub bonding interface; before or after positioning the ring formation around the hub disk, depositing metallic sealing material between contiguous bladed pieces to produce an annular seal around the ring formation; forming a hermetic cavity circumferentially bounded by the annular seal and enclosing the shank-to-shank bonding interfaces and the shank-to-hub bonding interface; and performing a Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) process during which the ring formation and the hub disk are exposed to elevated temperatures and pressures external to the hermetic cavity sufficient to diffusion bond the shank-to-shank bonding interfaces and the shank-to-hub bonding interface.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein contiguous bladed pieces combine to form flow path junctures when the bladed pieces are arranged in the ring formation, and wherein depositing comprises depositing the metallic sealing material along the flow path junctures.

3 . The method of claim 2 further comprising machining the flow path junctures such that the deposited metallic sealing material is at least partially removed after performing the HIP process.

4 . The method of claim 2 wherein trenches are formed along the flow path junctures when the bladed pieces are arranged in the ring formation, and wherein depositing comprises depositing the metallic sealing material into the trenches in sufficient volume to substantially fill each trench.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein depositing comprises depositing a metallic sealing material between contiguous bladed pieces in the ring formation utilizing a computer-controlled fusion deposition process to produce the annular seal around the ring formation.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the computer-controlled fusion deposition process comprises one of the group consisting of laser welding and electron beam welding.

7 . The method of claim 5 wherein the bladed pieces are composed of a blade alloy, and wherein the method further comprises selecting the metallic sealing material to have a ductility greater than the ductility of the blade alloy.

8 . The method of claim 5 further comprising loading the bladed pieces into a tooling assembly maintaining the bladed pieces in the ring formation, while leaving the outer circumferential surface of the ring formation uncovered for tooling access during deposition of the metallic sealing material.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the tooling assembly applies a clamping force on the bladed pieces in axial and radially inward directions to maintain the bladed pieces in an arch bound state during deposition of the metallic sealing material.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the bladed pieces are cast to include shank sidewall surfaces, which contact when the bladed pieces are arranged in the ring formation.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the bladed pieces are cast from a single crystal superalloy, and wherein the method further comprises applying or plating a grain boundary strengthen layer onto the shank sidewalls prior to arranging the bladed pieces in the ring formation.

12 . The method of claim 1 wherein providing a hermetic cavity comprises sealingly attaching first and second diaphragms to the bladed pieces and the hub disk to enclose the shank-to-hub bonding interface within the hermetic cavity.

13 . A method for manufacturing a bladed rotor, the method comprising:
arranging bladed pieces in a ring formation having flow path junctures, which are formed between contiguous bladed pieces and which extend at least partially across an outer circumferential surface of the ring formation; depositing a metallic sealing material along the flow path junctures to form an annular seal around the outer circumferential surface of the ring formation; and performing a Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) process during which the ring formation is heated to elevated temperatures, while a pressure differential is created across the annular seal sufficient to diffusion bond contiguous bladed pieces in the ring formation and yield a metallurgically-consolidated blade ring.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises:
positioning the ring formation around a hub disk; and
further diffusion bonding the hub disk to the metallurgically-consolidated blade ring during the HIP process.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the bladed pieces are cast from a blade alloy, and wherein the hub disk is fabricated from a hub disk alloy different than the blade alloy.

16 . The method of claim 14 wherein the bladed pieces contact along shank-to-shank bonding interfaces when arranged into the ring formation, wherein the bladed pieces contact the hub disk along shank-to-hub bonding interface when the ring formation is positioned around the hub disk, and wherein the bladed pieces and the hub disk are diffusion bonded along the shank-to-shank and shank-to-hub bonding interface during the HIP process.

17 . A dual alloy bladed rotor, comprising:
a hub disk composed of a hub disk alloy; and a metallurgically-consolidated blade ring diffusion bonded to an outer circumferential surface of the hub disk and comprising a plurality of bladed pieces diffusion bonded along shank-to-shank bonding interfaces, the plurality of bladed pieces each fabricated from a blade alloy different than the hub disk alloy.

18 . The dual alloy bladed rotor of claim 17 wherein the blade alloy comprises a single crystal superalloy, and wherein the dual alloy bladed rotor further comprises grain boundary strengthening layers at the shank-to-shank bonding interfaces.

19 . The dual alloy bladed rotor of claim 17 wherein the metallurgically-consolidated blade ring further comprises:
flow path junctures between adjacent ones of the plurality of bladed pieces; and
flow path joints formed along the flow path junctures composed of a metallic sealing material having a ductility greater than that of the blade alloy.

20 . The dual alloy bladed rotor of claim 19 wherein the metallurgically-consolidated blade ring further comprises trenches extending along the flow path joints and each substantially filled with the metallic sealing material.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Smoke Jason
• Jan David K
• Mittendorf Don
• Ludwig Brent
• Miner Amandine
• Chase Deanna Pinar

Classifications

• F05D2230/236

  Diffusion bonding · CPC title

• F01D5/02

  Blade-carrying members, e.g. rotors (rotors of non-bladed type F01D1/34; stators F01D9/00 {; selecting particular materials F01D5/28}) · CPC title

• B23K15/0086

  welding for purposes other than joining, e.g. build-up welding · CPC title

• B23K20/22

  taking account of the properties of the materials to be welded · CPC title

• B23K20/026

  with diffusion of soldering material · CPC title