Patent attributes
A compressor blade for a gas turbine engine that includes a composite leading edge insert attached to a titanium blade by a row of fastener pins along an aft edge of the insert to prevent unzipping. Each insert is also secured by an electrochemically disbondable composition for easy removable of a damaged insert from an integrally bladed disk. One or more of the fastener pins provides for an electrical conductive path that bypasses the disbondable composition during a lightening strike so that the insert does not release. Each replaceable insert includes a root portion that fits within a slot of the rotor disk, with each insert being secured against radial displacement by two shear pins secured within two shear pin slots formed in both the insert root portion and the rotor disk slot. The shear pin slots are curved and follow the curvature of the airfoil at the junction to the rotor disk. A retaining and balancing ring is secured within an annular groove and functions to retain the shear pins within the slots and to balance the rotor disk. The combination of the fastener pins, the electrochemically disbondable composition, and the shear pins in the slot provide for three methods of securing an insert to the blade so that a damaged insert can be easily replaced.
