Hot shape forging of gas turbine disk using microstructure prediction and finite element analysis

The Waspaloy, a Ni-based superalloy, has been widely used for forging material of gas turbine disk since it requires the high tensile strength at high temperature and good resistance to low cycle fatigue. The purpose of this study is to develop a forging process of turbine disk that satisfies the hot deformation characteristics of Waspaloy. Generally, the hot forging of superalloy has been subjected to isothermal forging since the available temperature range of forging is narrow. However, the non-isothermal forging was used to make a turbine disk in this study. Therefore, the analyses of temperature variation and deformation behavior of the material were important to obtain the sound forging products. The hot compression test was carried out to know formability at high temperature and microstructure evolution during hot deformation. In order to define the optimum forging conditions including material temperature, strain rate, strain, microstructure evolution and forging load, the commercial finite element analysis code was used to simulate the forging procedure of turbine disk. The hot forged turbine disk was heat-treated for obtaining the high temperature properties. The cut-off tests on the heat-treated forged disks were carried out. Experimental results were compared with the simulation results by FE analysis. Test results were in good agreement with the simulations. This study shows that the superalloy turbine disk can be manufactured by the semi-closed die forging.