Electric-spark alloying technology for improving the working life of steam turbine rotor blades and equipment for its implementation

Work is devoted to studying development of technology for forming erosion-resistant coatings for steam turbine rotor blades by electric-spark alloying. Comparative analysis is provided for current methods of steam turbine rotor blade strengthening and repair. It is shown that electric-spark coating formation on leading edges is important, and development of forming technology is connected with a search for new materials. New engineering solutions are found for coating formation from cobalt stellites, the properties of cobalt stellite and cermet hard alloy VK8 electric-spark coatings are studied, and the effect of operating unit parameters on coating formation is demonstrated. New vibrator structures are created for forming electric-spark coatings making it possible to expand the range of electrode vibration to 260 Hz, and specimens are prepared for testing with coating formation