PLANT FOR THERMOPLASRTIC HARDENING OF BLADES Russian patent published in 2001 - IPC

FIELD: heat treatment of articles; strengthening treatment of finally manufactured blades for gas-turbine engines. SUBSTANCE: proposed plant includes electrical furnace, cooling chamber with spraying grates located under this furnace and connected with reservoir filled with cooling liquid, loading-and- unloading mechanism with lock and rod for mounting the blades; spraying grates have openings, 0.7 to 1.0 mm in diameter and located at pitch of 4 to 7 mm; grates are shiftable relative to each other. Reservoir for cooling liquid is just pneumo-hydraulic accumulator whose volume consists of one third of liquid and two thirds of compresses air at a pressure of 5 to 6 atm. EFFECT: enhanced reliability of forming residual compressive stresses in surface layer of blade. 2 dwg