CT Inspection of Cooled Turbine Blades

Abstract

To improve the engine efficiency by increasing the gas temperature, multi-layer cooling passages are applied in new designs of gas turbine blades. As a result, traditional non-destructive methods, which have been applied so far in the production control, became insufficient. The aim of this manuscript is to develop an inspection method for cooling passages of turbine blades, which would be helpful in detecting manufacturing defects of blades and their operational failures. GE v/tome/x/m 300 was applied to conduct dimensional control and check the interior of two types of turbine blades from turboshaft engines. The procedure for selecting X-ray parameters was suggested. The thickness of walls in the selected cross-section was measured with the accuracy of 0.01 mm, and the selected manufacturing defects of cooling passages were identified.

Health and Durability of Protective and Thermal Barrier Coatings Monitored in Service by Visual Inspection

“…CT is an effective tool for the inspection of blades that can be used to measure wall thickness and detect cracks and voids [33,34]. In the case of blade coatings, the CT capabilities are very limited.…”