Patent Application
20240124957
The specification relates to high gamma prime (γ′) nickel (Ni) based welding material for repair and 3D additive manufacturing of turbine engine components.
The Ni-based superalloys are an important material in the field of gas-turbines and jet engines owing to the extraordinary combination of physical properties, tensile and creep strength, thermal fatigue, and oxidation resistance in the temperature range from 600° C. (1112° F.) to 1000° C. (1830° F.). Despite remarkable properties of superalloys, turbine blades exhibit tip degradation resulting mostly from thermal fatigue cracking, creep, oxidation and erosion. Therefore, turbine engine components undergo extensive weld repairs with the aim to reduce the cost of turbine engine overhaul. The 3D additive manufacturing (AM) similar, to a fusion welding, is relaying on weldability of materials as well. Unfortunately, commercially available high gamma prime (γ′) Rene 80 per U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,367 (R80) (incorporated herein by reference); Rene 142 (R142) per U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,376 (incorporated herein by reference); Inconel 713 (IN713) per Aerospace Material Specification (AMS) 5391, Inconel 738 (IN738) per AMS5410, GTD111, and Mar M247 with chemical composition summarized in Table 1 containing more than 4.5 wt. % in total aluminum and titanium (Al+Ti) are considered non-weldable at ambient temperature due to extensive cracking (M. J. Donachie, S. J. Donachie, Superalloys: A Technical Guide, 2nd ed. (ASM International), Materials Park, OH, 2002 (further M. J. Donachie) and Joseph N. Ghoussoub et al “On the Influence of Alloy Composition on the Additive manufacturing of Ni-Based Superalloys”, Metallurgical and Materials Transaction A, Published on Line on 8 Jan. 2022, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354983082 (further J. N. Ghoussoub) (all incorporated herein by reference)). Solidification and liquation cracking of high gamma prime (γ′) superalloys in 3D AM as per J. N. Ghoussoub was affiliated to a formation of intergranular and interdendritic low temperature Ta—Hf—Ni based eutectics. However, on other hand Ta and Hf free Inconel 713 and Rene 80 are prone to solidification and solid state cracking as well. Currently, only welding material as per the U.S. Pat. No. 11,180,840 ('840) (incorporated herein by reference) containing 9.0-10.5% Cr, 20-22% Co, 1.0-1.4% Mo, 5.0-5.8% W, 2.0-6.0% Ta, 3.0-6.5% AI, 0.2-0.5% Hf, 0.01-0.016% C, 1.5-3.5% Re, 0-1.0% Ge, 0-0.2% Y, 0-1.0% Si, 0-015% B demonstrated capabilities to produce crack free welds by laser welding (LBW) as well as 3D AM utilizing direct energy deposition (DED) and laser powder-bed fusion (L-PBF) processes at ambient temperature. However, as it was found by experiments, due to poor controls of welding parameters and large size of a welding pool, which are typical for manual GTAW welding, GTAW welds were prone to a solidification cracking that makes unsuitable using GTAW welding for joining of subassemblies manufactured by 3D AM as well as for a repair of turbine engine components manufactured by 3D AM.
See M. J. Donachine for chemical composition of commercially available superalloys.
Therefore, in view of the above, there is a need in the art for a high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material that improves on the properties of the high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 11,180,840 (incorporated herein by reference), to enable using GTAW-MA welding for repair and manufacturing of turbine engine components and other articles.
In one aspect, the specification discloses a high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material for repair and 3D additive manufacturing of turbine engine components, the welding material containing by wt. %:
Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings which show example embodiments of the present application, and in which:
Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components.
The specification discloses a high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material (welding material), which is a further development of the superalloy as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 11,180,840. The welding material can be used a repair and 3D additive manufacturing (3D AM) of turbine engine components and other articles and subassemblies followed by a manual and automatic gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) of subassemblies as well for laser beam (LBW), plasma (PAW), micro-plasma (MPW), and electron beam (EBW) fusion welding processes.
The inventors have found that a high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material containing, by wt. %, from 9.0 to 11.0% Cr, from 16.0 to 24.0% Co, from 1.0 to 1.4% Mo, from 5.0 to 5.8% W, from 1.5 to 1.9% Ta, from 4.5 to 5.5% Al, from 0.1 to 0.3% Hf, from 0.005 to 0.02% B, from 0.05 to 0.12% C, from 1.5 to 2.5% Re, from 0.2 to 0.8% Fe and nickel with impurities to balance, produced sound high strength welds utilizing GTAW-MA and automatic LBW welding.
In one embodiment, the specification relates to a high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material containing, by wt. %, from 9.0 to 11.0% Cr, from 16.0 to 18.0% Co, from 1.0 to 1.4% Mo, from 5.0 to 5.8% W, from 1.5 to 1.6% Ta, from 4.5 to 5.5% Al, from 0.1 to 0.3% Hf, from 0.005 to 0.02% B, from 0.05 to 0.12% C, from 1.5 to 2.5% Re, from 0.2 to 0.8% Fe and nickel with impurities.
In a second embodiment, the specification relates to a high gamma prime nickel based welding material containing, by wt. %, from 9.0 to 11.0% Cr, from 19.0 to 21.0% Co, from 1.0 to 1.4% Mo, from 5.0 to 5.8% W, from 1.6 to 1.7% Ta, from 4.5 to 5.5% Al, from 0.1 to 0.3% Hf, from 0.005 to 0.02% B, from 0.05 to 0.12% C, from 1.5 to 2.5% Re, from 0.2 to 0.8% Fe and nickel with impurities to balance.
In a third embodiment, the specification relates to a high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material containing, by wt. %, from 9.0 to 11.0% Cr, from 22.0 to 24.0% Co, from 1.0 to 1.4% Mo, from 5.0 to 5.8% W, from 1.8 to 1.9% Ta, from 4.5 to 5.5% Al, from 0.1 to 0.3% Hf, from 0.005 to 0.02% B, from 0.05 to 0.12% C, from 1.5 to 2.5% Re, from 0.2 to 0.8% Fe and nickel with impurities to balance.
The embodiments disclosed herein can be a welding powder, a welding wire, an article manufactured by 3D additive manufacturing, or a repair section of a turbine engine component.
In addition, the high gamma prime (γ′) nickel based welding material, disclosed herein, can be used for weld repair of turbine engine components, joining of subassemblies utilizing manual gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW-MA), for 3D additive manufacturing (3D AM), laser beam welding (LBW), plasma arc welding (PAW-ME), electron beam welding (EBW), or automatic gas tungsten arc (GTAW-ME) welding. Further, the welding material, disclosed herein, can be produced and supplied in the form of a welding powder, a welding rod, a welding wire utilizing commercially available equipment and technologies.
Based on experiments, it was determined that the welding material, disclosed herein, has the solidus temperature of 1333° C. (2431.4° F.) and the liquidus temperature of 1382° C. (2519.6° F.) as shown in the DTA traces in
The double picks (500) and (600) on the cooling trace (450) shown in
Test samples were produced utilizing the 3D AM concept by the multilayer LBW using Alloy A per Claim 2, Alloy B per Claim 3, and Alloy C per Claim 4 powders of 45 μm in diameter, refer to Table 2.
The test samples produced by 3D AM were subjected to GTAW-MA autogenous welding.
The LBW welding parameters included a laser head speed (welding speed) of 1.8 mm/s, a laser beam power of 415 W, a laser beam focus spot size of 950 μm, a powder feed rate of 4 g/min, and a laser head oscillation of 1.2 mm. After 3D AM samples of 2.6-2.8 mm in thickness samples were subjected to GTAW-MA with the argon backup using welding parameters selected by experiments following to the American Welding Society D17.1M:2017 AMD2 (AWS D17.1) specification for fusion welding aiming to produce full penetration as shown in
All test samples were subjected to a non-destructive radiographic inspection to Group 1 acceptance standards as per AWS D17.1, metallographic examination of a cross sections shown in
In addition to above, GTAW-MA weld samples manufactured from Alloys A, B, and C were subjected to the tensile testing in transvers direction at temperatures of 20° C. (68° F.) as per the “American Society for Testing and Materials” (ASTM) E8 standard, 982° C. (1800° F.) and 1038° C. (1900° F.) as per ASTM E21 standard. The gage area of tensile samples included the weld metal produced by LBW and GTAW-MA weld. Non-destructive testing and metallographic examination of welded samples confirmed formation of sound crack free 3D AM materials produced by multilayer LBW (3D AM material) and the autogenous GTAW-MA weld produced by a manual welding.
As follows from Table 3, welded joints of Alloys A, B, and C demonstrated excellent ductility from ambient temperature (20° C. (68° F.)) to high temperature enabling accommodation of welding stresses by plastic deformation. All samples demonstrated high tensile strength from an ambient temperature up to 982° C. (1800° F.) due to precipitation of 47-49 vol. % of gamma prime (γ′) phase shown in
It should be obvious that discussed embodiments are considered to be illustrative and not restrictive. Therefore, certain adaptations and modifications of the described embodiments can be made. Also, provided examples do not limit applications of the invented materials as well manufacturing of other embodiments strictly for a repair of turbine engine components and 3D AM. Various modifications can be made with the claimed range of alloying elements.
Certain adaptations and modifications of the described embodiments can be made. Therefore, the above discussed embodiments are considered to be illustrative and not restrictive.
