Systems and methods for finishing flow elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9751187-B2
Application number	US-201615048562-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2016
Priority date	Oct 29, 2013
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for finish portions of parts for gas turbine engines are provided. More specifically, systems and methods for finishing flow elements (e.g., stator vanes and turbine blades) or gas turbine engines are provided. The systems and methods may employ grit blasting, fluidic machining, and/or super polishing. Moreover, the flow elements may be inspected and/or evaluated between the one or more processing steps.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
fluidic machining at least a portion of a flow element to obtain a surface roughness of no more than 20 RA;
inspecting the portion of the flow element; and
after fluidic machining, super polishing the portion of the flow element to obtain a surface roughness of no more than 10 RA.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluidic machining employs an abrasive paste.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the super polishing obtains a surface finish of less than 5 Ra.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the super polishing process employs a ceramic media loaded with an abrasive particle.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the super polishing process employs water to create a paste with the abrasive particles.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flow element is created by a rapid prototyping process.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising grit blasting the flow element prior to the fluidic machining.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flow element has a surface finish that includes a plurality of gouges.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the gouges are detectable after the super polishing.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the gouges are an indication of the fluidic machining.

11. A method, comprising:
subjecting a first part and a second part to a grit blast operation, wherein the first part comprises a first plurality of flow elements and the second part comprises a second plurality of flow elements
subjecting the first part and the second part to a fluidic machining operation; and
subjecting the first part and the second part to a super polishing process, wherein the surface roughness of the first plurality of flow elements and the second plurality of flow elements is not greater than 10 RA;
wherein the fluidic machining operation introduces detectable gouges in at least one of the first part and the second part.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising producing the first part from a rapid prototyping process and producing the second part from a rapid prototyping process.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first plurality of flow elements and the second plurality of flow elements have a surface roughness of not greater than 20 RA in response to the fluidic machining operation.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first plurality of flow elements and the second plurality of flow elements have a surface roughness of not greater than 5 RA in response to the super polishing process.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein a detectable gouge is present in the surface of the first plurality of flow elements and the second plurality of flow elements in response to the super polishing process.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of parts are subjected to the grit blast operation, the fluidic machining operation and the super polishing operation.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein fluidic machining operation uses an abrasive paste.

Assignees

• United Technologies Corp

Inventors

• Beckman Micah
• Oyegun Osamuyimen A

Classifications

• B24B1/04

  subjecting the grinding or polishing tools, the abrading or polishing medium or work to vibration, e.g. grinding with ultrasonic frequency (involving oscillating or vibrating containers B24B31/06; superfinishing surfaces on work, e.g. by means of abrading blocks reciprocating with high frequency, B24B35/00) · CPC title

• B24C3/32

  designed for abrasive blasting of particular work, e.g. the internal surfaces of cylinder blocks (B24C3/08, B24C3/18 take precedence) · CPC title

• B24B31/116 Primary

  using plastically deformable grinding compound, moved relatively to the workpiece under the influence of pressure · CPC title

• B24B19/14

  for grinding turbine blades, propeller blades or the like (using grinding belts B24B21/16) · CPC title

• C21D7/06

  by shot-peening or the like · CPC title