Novel Designs of Turbine Blades for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Improving engine performance requires creating new materials and improving design and manufacturing. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is advancing rapidly and allows us to produce details of complex shapes that cannot be produced by traditional methods. The goal of this study was to demonstrate the possibility of using AM for the manufacture of turbine blades with a complex geometry, including those with advanced cooling systems, which cannot be manufactured by conventional methods. This paper presents the results of the design and calculations of high-pressure turbine (HPT) cooled blades, as well as a low-pressure turbine (LPT) uncooled blade that was designed using topology optimization (TO). Several blades were manufactured using AM. 3D tomography test results for those blades confirm the possibility of AM application in production of blades with complex geometry.