Method of manufacturing and refinishing integrally bladed rotors

A method of forming integrally bladed rotors for gas turbines, comprising the acts of:

• drilling in a workpiece material recesses defining flow passages and rotor blades;
• performing a coarse milling step to refine surfaces of the rotor blades;
• filling the recesses between the rotor blades with a damping material, thus encasing the rotor blades in the damping material;
• and
• performing a finishing milling step to remove the damping material and the workpiece material on surfaces of the rotor blades, while maximizing a damping effect of the damping material on the rotor blades.

A system for manufacturing rotor blades, comprising:

• a drilling step for forming in a workpiece material recesses defining flow passages and blade surfaces of blades separating adjacent flow passages, the drilling being generally along a flow direction of the flow passages;
• a coarse milling step following the drilling step, for further defining shapes of the blades and of the flow passages;
• a damping step, for filling the flow passages with a damping material to reduce movement of the blades in subsequent machining steps;
• and
• a finishing milling step, along a milling axis generally perpendicular to the flow direction, for finishing surfaces of the blades by milling the damping material and the workpiece material from opposing blade surfaces defining each of the flow passages.