Non-destructive inspection method for metallic alloys
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsJoseph Parkos, Daniel A. Bales, Mimi Nguyen-Vu, Gary M. Lomasney, Philip H. Ratliff
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Abstract
A non-destructive inspection method for detecting the presence of a contaminant that has alloyed with a metallic alloy of a part includes exposing the metallic alloy of the part to an extraction solution. The extraction solution extracts at least a portion of any of the contaminant that has alloyed with the metallic alloy. The extraction solution can then be analyzed to determine whether the solution includes any of the contaminant element, which indicates whether the part includes any of the contaminant element.
Claims18
A non-destructive inspection method for detecting the presence of a contaminant that has alloyed with metallic alloy of a part, comprising:
- (a) exposing the metallic alloy of the part to an extraction solution;
- (b) extracting at least a portion of any of the contaminant that has alloyed with the metallic alloy into the extraction solution;
- and
- (c) determining whether the extraction solution that has been exposed to the metallic alloy includes any of the contaminant.
A non-destructive inspection method for detecting the presence of a tin contaminant that has alloyed with a nickel-alloy of a part, comprising:
- (a) injecting a hydrochloric acid solution into an internal cavity of the part to expose the internal cavity to the hydrochloric acid solution for a time that is suitable to avoid chemical attack of the hydrochloric acid solution on the nickel-alloy;
- (b) extracting at least a portion of any tin contaminant (or compound?) that has alloyed with the nickel-alloy into the hydrochloric acid solution;
- and
- (c) subjecting the hydrochloric acid solution that has been exposed to the nickel-alloy to inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis to determine whether the hydrochloric acid solution includes any of the tin contaminant, to thereby determine whether the airfoil part includes the tin contaminant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.