Review of main manufacturing processes of complex hollow turbine blades

Abstract

In view of their development at present, the advanced manufacturing processes of hollow turbine blades are reviewed thoroughly. There are several kinds of manufacturing technologies, including investment casting, laser metal direct forming and integrated manufacturing of ceramic cores shell, for hollow turbine blades, and their advantages and disadvantages are contrastively analysed. The development direction and the problems to be solved are put forward for manufacturing the hollow turbine blades to fulfil the increasing requirements of the high performance engine and energy conservation in the future.

Keywords:

• hollow turbine blade
• manufacturing process
• investment casting
• integrated manufacturing of ceramic cores shell
• laser metal direct forming

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Key Basic Research Projects (973) of China through Grant No. 2013CB035703, the National Natural Science Foundation of China through Grant no.51005177 and ‘‘the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities’’.