Effect of Heat Treatment on the Specific Heat Capacity of Nickel-Based Alloys

Alloy-718 and Udimet alloy 720 are gamma prime strengthened superalloys with excellent mechanical and thermal properties at elevated temperatures, as well as at cryogenic temperatures. The nickel-based alloys were improved to be resistant to creep and become stronger by changing the heat-treatment conditions. The measurement of the specific heat capacity of a nickel-based alloy is a very useful tool to investigate the effect of heat treatment. The specific heat capacity of nickel-based alloys Alloy-718 and Udimet alloy 720 were measured using a differential scanning calorimeter in the temperature range of 100 – 1000 K. The specific heat capacity of the nickel-based alloys increases monotonically with temperature; however, above 800 K, it is strongly dependent on the heat treatment conditions and it is thought to be influenced by the precipitation phase (γ′, γ′′). Optical and scanning electron microscopies are used to investigate the microstructure of the phases. The microstructures of the precipitates are examined.Paper presented at the Seventh Asian Thermophysical Properties Conference, August 23–28, 2004, Hefei and Huangshan, Anhui, P. R. China.