Method for adhesive bonding of titanium components using a fiber laser system
AssigneeRaytheon Technologies Corporation
InventorsXiaomei Fang, John D. Riehl, Christopher J. Hertel, Dmitri Novikov, Henry H. Thayer, Donald H. Spencer
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Abstract
A method for treating a surface of a contoured titanium substrate used for adhesively bonded engine components. The method including applying energy from a fiber laser system to a contoured surface of a titanium substrate, the laser energy is distributed to the contoured titanium surface by at least one of direct light of sight, reflection, or scattering of one or more laser beam.
Claims20
A method for treating a surface of a contoured titanium substrate used for adhesively bonded engine components, comprising:
- applying energy from a fiber laser system to a contoured surface of a titanium substrate, the contoured surface including a first surface portion and a second surface portion, the first surface portion and the second surface portion defining at least a portion of a cavity therebetween, the second surface portion being a non-line of sight surface portion with respect to the fiber laser system, the laser energy is distributed to the first surface portion of the contoured titanium surface by at least one of direct line of sight, reflection, or scattering of one or more laser beam;
- wherein the step of applying energy from the fiber laser system to the first surface portion of the contoured surface of the titanium substrate creates a produced oxide layer within the titanium substrate at the first surface portion, the produced oxide layer including a nanoscale open porous morphology;
- and
- wherein the energy from the fiber laser system is applied to the first surface portion of the contoured surface of the titanium substrate in a manner that causes the energy to reflect onto the second surface portion of the contoured surface so as to create the produced oxide layer within the titanium substrate at the second surface portion.
A method of adhering a titanium substrate to a second substrate, comprising:
- applying energy from a fiber laser system to a surface of a titanium substrate in an amount that creates a produced oxide layer within the titanium substrate, the produced oxide layer having a nanoscale open porous morphology;
- applying one or more adhesives to at least a portion of the produced oxide layer in a manner that causes the adhesive to infiltrate the nanoscale open porous morphology of the produced oxide layer;
- and
- bonding the second substrate to the portion of the oxide layer having the nanoscale open porous morphology with the one or more adhesives;
- wherein the nanoscale open porous morphology is present throughout an entirety of a thickness of the produced oxide layer;
- and
- wherein the thickness of the produced oxide layer is a distance the produced oxide layer is present from an exposed surface of the produced oxide layer inward to an underlying portion of the titanium substrate.
A method of preparing an airfoil for bonding, the airfoil having a leading edge and a trailing edge, the airfoil further having a convex suction side surface and a concave pressure side surface, each of the convex suction side surface and the concave pressure side surface extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge, the method comprising:
- applying energy from a fiber laser system to a surface of a titanium insert in an amount that creates a produced oxide layer within the titanium insert, the produced oxide layer having an open porous morphology within a nanoscale porous structure;
- applying one or more adhesives to at least a portion of the produced oxide layer in a manner that causes the adhesive to infiltrate the nanoscale porous structure of the produced oxide layer;
- and
- bonding the surface of the titanium insert with the applied one or more adhesives to the airfoil at the leading edge of the airfoil with the one or more adhesives.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.