Abstract: A bucket to wheel dovetail attachment includes axially spaced radially extending wheel fingers having discrete sections of decreased axial thickness in a radial outward direction with transition fillets between sections of different thicknesses. The wheel fingers define wheel finger slots for receiving correspondingly shaped bucket dovetail fingers. Pins interconnect the buckets and rotor wheel. The slot bottoms likewise have fillets. The fillets on the wheel fingers and slot bottoms have a blend of different radii with the larger radii outward of the smaller radii to reduce stress concentrations and to avoid stress corrosion cracking in steam turbine applications.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method for treating discolored natural diamond, especially Type IIa diamond and Type IaA/B diamond with nitrogen as predominantly B centers, for improving its color. The method includes preblocking and preshaping a discolored natural diamond to prevent its breakage in a high pressure/high temperature (HP/HT) press, placing said discolored natural diamond in a pressure transmitting medium which is consolidated into a pill. Next, the pill is placed into a HP/HT press at elevated pressure and elevated temperature within the graphite-stable or diamond-stable range of the carbon phase diagram for a time sufficient to improve the color of said diamond. Finally, the diamond is recovered from said press. Colorless and fancy colored diamonds can be made by this method.

Abstract: A method has been developed for predicting a remaining operational life of a turbine component including: obtaining crack flaw data regarding current crack flaws in the turbine component; using the crack flaw data with data regarding the structure and operating conditions of the turbine component to determine force loads applied to the turbine component and generate crack propagation data; applying a probalistic analysis to the crack flaw data and the generated crack propagation data to generate a statistical distribution of crack data, and applying the statistical distribution of crack data to predict a time to failure of the component by iteratively determining the force loads for successive periods of time.

Abstract: A bucket to wheel dovetail attachment includes axially spaced radially extending wheel fingers having discrete sections of decreased axial thickness in a radial outward direction with transition fillets between sections of different thicknesses. The wheel fingers define wheel finger slots for receiving correspondingly shaped bucket dovetail fingers. Pins interconnect the buckets and rotor wheel. The slot bottoms likewise have fillets. The fillets on the wheel fingers and slot bottoms have a blend of different radii with the larger radii outward of the smaller radii to reduce stress concentrations and to avoid stress corrosion cracking in steam turbine applications.

Abstract: A method of forming at least one single crystal of a Group III metal nitride. The method includes the steps of: providing a flux material and a source material comprising at least one Group III metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum, indium, and gallium, to a reaction vessel; sealing the reaction vessel; heating the reaction vessel to a predetermined temperature and applying a predetermined pressure to the vessel. The pressure is sufficient to suppress decomposition of the Group III metal nitride at the temperature. Group III metal nitrides, as well as electronic devices having a Group III metal nitride substrate formed by the method are also disclosed.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method for treating discolored natural diamond, especially Type IIa diamond and Type IaA/B diamond with nitrogen as predominantly B centers, for improving its color. The method includes preblocking and preshaping a discolored natural diamond to prevent its breakage in a high pressure/high temperature (HP/HT) press, placing said discolored natural diamond in a pressure transmitting medium which is consolidated into a pill. Next, the pill is placed into a HP/HT press at elevated pressure and elevated temperature within the graphite-stable or diamond-stable range of the carbon phase diagram for a time sufficient to improve the color of said diamond. Finally, the diamond is recovered from said press. Colorless and fancy colored diamonds can be made by this method.

Abstract: A method of forming at least one single crystal of a Group III metal nitride. The method includes the steps of: providing a flux material and a source material comprising at least one Group III metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum, indium, and gallium, to a reaction vessel; sealing the reaction vessel; heating the reaction vessel to a predetermined temperature and applying a predetermined pressure to the vessel. The pressure is sufficient to suppress decomposition of the Group III metal nitride at the temperature. Group III metal nitrides, as well as electronic devices having a Group III metal nitride substrate formed by the method are also disclosed.