Airfoil repair: enabling technologies extend life and reduce costs; Advanced repair technologies are extending gas turbine component lives well beyond conventional limits. Among the technologies available are: rejuvenation heat treatments, advanced welding and alloys, internals stripping and recoating, and LPM powder metallurgy

Modern Power Systems, August, 2004 by Lloyd Cooke

Over the life of a gas turbine power plant, the two most significant operating costs are fuel, and engine overhaul/maintenance. The most significant maintenance cost over the life of the plant is replacement of hot gas path components when they reach the end of their reliable life. Operators therefore continue to search for ways of extending the life of the expensive hot gas path components, to reduce the plant life cycle costs, and achieve an advantage in an increasingly competitive environment.

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To address these needs, new component repair technologies have been developed and are now being employed to extend component lives. In many cases these advanced repair processes are achieving two times the life compared with conventional...