Blisk Drum Manufacturing via Inertia Welding and Sacrificial Material
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for manufacturing blisk drums for gas turbine engines, such as inertia welding and electron beam welding, face limitations in cost efficiency, material compatibility, and the need for sacrificial material which often results in material scrappage and additional manufacturing steps.
Innovation Solution
A method involving disc forging with sacrificial material, where the sacrificial material is used to provide force balancing and holding surfaces during inertia welding, allowing for the formation of blisk drums with integral blades, reducing material waste and the need for separate blade attachment, and enabling lighter, fewer sub-components with improved compression efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If inertia welding with sacrificial material is used to join discs, then the welding process can be performed with good alignment and force balancing, but the sacrificial material must be removed afterward resulting in material scrappage and additional machining operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the sacrificial material from the welded disc assembly through a specialized machining process. The sacrificial material is completely removed to create the final drum geometry with integral blades, eliminating the need for separate blade attachment while maintaining weld quality achieved during the inertial welding process
Solution Approach 2:
The sacrificial material is pre-formed with specific geometries including tapered surfaces and relief features that facilitate controlled removal after welding. These preliminary design features enable efficient machining operations that minimize material waste while ensuring complete removal of the sacrificial portions
2Ease of manufacture
If electron beam welding is used to join blisks, then sacrificial material and separate blade attachment steps are eliminated, but the process involves local melting which can be deleterious to the microstructure of the weld material
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the thermal electron beam welding process with mechanical inertial welding. The inertial welding process uses friction and forging forces to join the discs without melting, thereby avoiding the deleterious effects of local melting on the microstructure of high-temperature materials while still achieving strong welds without sacrificial material or separate blade attachment
3Productivity
If discs with removable blades are manufactured, then the process is low cost and quick with no melting of weld surfaces, but the blades are not integrally formed resulting in more sub-components and higher failure risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the blade and disc into a single integral component by forming the blades as an integral part of the disc during the inertial welding and subsequent machining process. This eliminates the need for separate blade attachment, reducing the number of sub-components and potential failure points while maintaining the cost-effectiveness and manufacturing speed of the inertial welding process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method reduces material waste, simplifies manufacturing by eliminating separate blade attachment steps, results in lighter blisk drums with reduced sub-component failure risks, and improves fuel efficiency in gas turbine engines.
Implementation Method 1
it is necessary for the work pieces to be forged together after or during friction is applied to the weld surfaces by rubbing the surfaces together
Implementation Method 2
After completion of the welding operation, the sacrificial material is removed in a post process machining operation
Data Source
AI summary
A method for the manufacture of a blisk drum is described. Disc forging for inertia welding together are provided with sacrificial material whose shape and position is selectively provided such that, on completion of the inertia welding process, integral blades can be fashioned from the sacrificial material. Other components such as buckets and balancing lands may also be provided from the sacrificial material.