Laser powder weld reconditioning of gas turbine engine blades

The paper presents an analysis of technologies of weld reconditioning of gas turbine engine blades made of heat-resistant nickel alloys. The analysis shows that the most prevalent techniques of repair do not meet the demands of modern efficient production. An automated laser cladding machine adapted for fine cladding of blade elements of high-pressure turbines, low-pressure turbines and power turbines of gas turbine units during repairing is proposed within the framework of a joint project with an industrial partner. The weld reconditioning technology based on the principles of additive manufacturing makes it possible to reduce both the losses of material during the subsequent machining and the duration of the latter. Experimental studies on laser cladding showed that the productivity of the cladding process could be up to several tens of working blades per hour. Metallographic studies showe that the deposited layers do not contain macroscopic defects. The results obtained by the authors allow predicting high productivity of the equipment for weld reconditioning, providing high quality of the material deposited.