General Electric Company
TURBINE BLADE TIP RAIL FORMATION AND REPAIR USING LASER WELDING

Abstract:

Methods of forming or repairing a tip rail of a turbine are disclosed. One method may include repairing the tip rail, or adding material to form the tip rail, by laser irradiating a wire material with a laser in an inert gas in a vicinity of a tip plate. The laser irradiating the wire material includes modulated pulsing the laser through: a warm up phase during which an on-power of the laser is increased over time to a maximum target on-power, a melt and bond phase during which the wire material is melted and during which the on-power is less than the maximum target on-power, and a stress releasing phase during which the on-power of the laser is less than the on-power during the melt and bond phase. Exterior surface coatings and/or TBC may be sprayed onto the tip rail to protect it.