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Removing hole blockages from thermal barrier coatings using low-pressure abrasive water jet

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Abstract

The micro- and small-sized cooling holes of turbine blades must be polished to remove the thermal barrier coating (TBC) blockage before service. To date, no effective methods have been developed to remove this blockage, except for manual polishing using grinding needles. In this study, the removal of hole blockages from a superalloy material is investigated using a low-pressure abrasive water jet (AWJ) process for the first time. Based on an analysis of the processing mechanism, the kinetic energy threshold for a particle-to-crack TBC is approximate 3.55 nJ. Garnet particles with size of 10 μm and speed of ≥ 60 m/s can theoretically damage the TBC material. For vertical holes, the hole-blocked material near the entrance can be eroded rapidly. For inclined holes, the hole-blocked material at the trailing edge has a much greater volume and length and requires a longer time to remove. Using relatively larger jet size increases the material removal rate of the blockage, however, resulting in a broader hole entrance. When applying a relatively larger standoff distance, the capability of the AWJ in removing the blockage was enhanced owing to the more dispersed distribution of abrasives in the jet. The blockage ratio can be reduced from 60% to approximately 25% after 90 s of AWJ processing. Furthermore, the impingement of abrasives can remove the recast layer from the hole wall caused by electrical discharge drilling prior to coating.

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The datasets used or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Primary Research and Development Plan of Jiangsu Province (China, grant number BE2022150) and National Science and Technology Major Project (China, grant number 2017-VII-0015-0111).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Yudao Street, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Zhuang Liu, Changshui Gao, Lijun Xiao & Zhongyu Wang

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  1. Zhuang Liu
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  2. Changshui Gao
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  3. Lijun Xiao
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  4. Zhongyu Wang
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Contributions

Zhuang Liu: conceptualization, methodology, and writing (reviewing and editing). Changshui Gao: experiment design and supervision. Lijun Xiao: original draft preparation and results inspection. Zhongyu Wang: experiment performance and result inspection.

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Correspondence to Zhuang Liu or Changshui Gao.

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Liu, Z., Gao, C., Xiao, L. et al. Removing hole blockages from thermal barrier coatings using low-pressure abrasive water jet. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 127, 1419–1431 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-11642-4

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