Methods and systems for wire electric discharge machining and validation of parts

A method of defining a plurality of slots in a turbine disc, the slots being fir-tree shaped and having respective given locations in the turbine disc, comprising, using a wEDM machine:

• executing a roughing pass to define a fir-tree shaped validation cut-out in the turbine disc in the given location of a given slot of the slots, the validation cut-out having a validation surface;
• executing at least one additional pass along the validation surface to give the validation surface a surface finish;
• wEDM the slots in the turbine disc in respective ones of the given locations by executing respective iterations of the roughing pass with respect to the slots, the step of wEDM the slots removing from the turbine disc a portion of the turbine disc having the validation cut-out;
• executing respective iterations of the at least one additional pass along surfaces of the turbine disc defining the slots to give the surfaces of the turbine disc the surface finish, and
• after a cleaning process followed by a chemical analysis have been completed with respect to the portion of the turbine disc having the validation cut-out, and in response to determining that the set of results of the chemical analysis meets a threshold set of chemical results associated with the portion of the turbine disc, executing a metallurgical analysis process with respect to the portion of the turbine disc.

A system for machining a plurality of slots in a turbine disc, the slots being fir-tree shaped and having respective given locations in the turbine disc, comprising:

• a wEDM machine configured to removably engage the turbine disc for wEDM features into the turbine disc;
• and
• a controller in communication with the wEDM machine, the controller comprising a processor and a non-transitory memory operatively connected to the processor, the non-transitory memory storing a technology file that includes therein wEDM parameters and processor-executable instructions in the non-transitory memory, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor while the turbine disc is engaged to the wEDM machine, causing the processor to control the wEDM machine using the wEDM parameters to:
• execute a roughing pass to remove a portion of the turbine disc from the given location of a given slot of the slots to define a fir-tree shaped validation surface disposed inward of a fir-tree shape of the given slot;
• execute at least one additional pass along the fir-tree shaped validation surface to give the fir-tree shaped validation surface a surface finish;
• and
• machine the slots in the turbine disc in respective ones of the given locations of the slots by executing respective additional iterations of the roughing pass followed by respective additional iterations of the at least one additional pass,
• the step of the executing a given roughing pass of the respective additional iterations of the roughing pass removing from the turbine disc a portion of the turbine disc having the fir-tree shaped validation surface without altering the fir-tree shaped validation surface, and retaining the portion removed from the turbine disc for metallurgical analysis, and
• the step of the executing the respective additional iterations of the at least one additional pass giving surfaces of the turbine disc defining the slots the surface finish.