Polishing

Every three months we have an inspection of the first row of blades of the compressor of the gasturbine.
The manufacturer (General Electric) has ordered that because of severe damage at other gasturbines all over the world.
Until now no crack had been found but: on my shift on sunday they found one tiny beginning of a crack of appr. 5 mm.
That small one can end up in a big one causing a piece of material to be ripped off the blade.
When that happens, that piece is flying through the compressor, the shaft rotates at 3000 rpm.
The result of such a thing happened a few years ago when I was on duty.
All the blades had been ripped off!
This is wat we call a crash....
The gasturbine was out of service for a few months because our spare turbinerotor was being repaired at the factory.
So the compressor had to be stripped completely and new blades had to be fitted.