ELECTRO-CHEMICAL MACHINING AIRFOIL CONTOURS OF TURBINE BLADES

Electro-chemical machining of the airfoil contour of gas turbine blades has been made possible by a new control system and tooling concept. The system holds the voltage constant as with conventional systems but varies the feed rate when the electrolyte resistance changes and thus maintains the same gap at the new metal removal rate. The tool was developed for production of stator vanes and consists of a shuttle which can be loaded outside the fixture, and sealed off after loading.