Claims
- 1. A method of manufacturing a turbine bucket comprising:
(a) investment casting the turbine bucket with a single crystal alloy; and (b) tuning a natural frequency of the turbine bucket without modifying physical features of the turbine bucket.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) is practiced by tuning the natural frequency of the turbine bucket without affecting turbine bucket weight.
- 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) is practiced by tuning the natural frequency of the turbine bucket without affecting turbine bucket shape.
- 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) is practiced by tuning torsional and stripe mode frequencies without affecting flexure mode frequencies of the turbine bucket.
- 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) is practiced by, prior to step (a), placing a crystal seed along a desired direction according to an orientation relative to an engine axial direction.
- 6. A method of tuning turbine bucket natural frequency comprising:
(a) placing a crystal seed along a desired orientation relative to an engine axial direction; and (b) investment casting the turbine bucket with a single crystal alloy, wherein the desired orientation is selected to tune torsional frequencies without affecting flexure frequencies.
- 7. A method according to claim 6, comprising tuning the natural frequency of the turbine bucket without affecting turbine bucket weight.
- 8. A method according to claim 6, comprising tuning the natural frequency of the turbine bucket without affecting turbine bucket shape.
Government Interests
[0001] This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-FC21-95MC-31176 awarded by the Department of Energy. The Government has certain rights in this invention.