Design of individual re-contouring processes

Abstract

The re-contouring process of turbine blades is performed subsequently to the material deposit and restores the shape of the blade. Each process within the process chain has to be adapted to an individual repair case depending on size, location and specification of the damage. Each damaged blade represents a batch size of one. Hence, there is no run-in on the machine tool. This leads to the requirement of an error-free process from the very beginning. Therefore, a reliable process design is needed, including an evaluation of technological blade properties. This paper introduces an integrated method for the design of re-contouring processes. The presented conceptual design considers special requirements regarding an individual repair case, e.g. an individual blade shape, blade properties and material deposit. The method encompasses the definition of an individual repair case and the tool path planning using an interface of a commercial software for computer aided manufacturing (CAM). For evaluation of the tool path, the method contains a high-resolution material removal simulation and a downstream analysis of engagement conditions.