Patent attributes
A turbine blade and platform assembly in which the platform is a separate piece that is secured to the blade through shear pins that extend along slots formed between opposed abutting parts of the blade and the platform. Because the platform is detached from the blade, the blade can be made of a single crystal superalloy with a reduction in casting defects. The platform has one or more airfoil shaped openings or slots on the outer surface in which a blade is inserted. The shear pins are inserted to secure the platform to the blade. In another embodiment, the blade root is inserted into an opening formed in the rotor disk, and shear pins are inserted into slots formed in the root and the disk opening in order to secure the blade to the rotor disk. With this embodiment, the blade can be made of a ceramic material because only compressive forces are formed to hold the blade in place.
