The effect of Re and Ru on γ/γ′ microstructure, γ-solid solution strengthening and creep strength in nickel-base superalloys

A new in-house designed series of Ni based superalloys with stepwise increased Re and Ru additions has been investigated, to systematically determine the influence of Re and Ru on γ/γ′-microstructure and high temperature creep properties. Improved creep resistance and thus also a higher alloy temperature capability of up to 87 K/at.% was found for additions of Re. Additions of Ru revealed a lower temperature capability improvement of up to 38 K/at.% for low Re-containing second generation alloys. However, in third and fourth generation alloys with higher Re-contents, no significant influence of Ru on creep rupture strength was observed. The creep properties are discussed with respect to the γ′-volume fraction, γ′-size and γ′-coarsening rate, as well as the γ/γ′-lattice misfit and the γ/γ′ partitioning coefficient of the different Re and Ru containing alloys. The presented data shows, that these microstructure parameters are strongly influenced by additions of Re, but only marginally by additions of Ru. A further influence on creep rupture strength is given by the solid solution hardening of the γ-matrix, which is discussed based on solid solution hardener concentrations either experimentally derived or calculated from ThermoCalc data.     

Influences of Re on low-cycle fatigue behaviors of single crystal superalloys at intermediate temperature

Low-cycle fatigue behaviors of Ni-base single crystal superalloys containing different Re contents have been investigated at 760 °C. During heat treatment, Re retards γ′ phases coarsening and equalizes the distribution of γ′ phases. As Re content increases, fatigue life increases and slip bands distribute more inhomogeneously. Moreover, adding Re not only reduces stacking fault energy of the matrix, but also promotes the element segregation to increase the lattice misfit. However, the larger lattice misfit does not lead to the formation of dislocation networks, but which activates dislocation movement and promotes dislocations cross-slip and climbing movement under high temperature and applied stress. On the other hand, with the addition of Re, cyclic deformation behaviors change from cyclic hardening to cyclic stability, mainly depending on a transformation of deformation mechanisms from slip bands cutting through γ and γ′ phases to stacking faults shearing.     

Effect of Ru on microstructural evolution during heat treatment in single crystal superalloys

Abstract

The effect of Ru addition on the as cast microstructure, structural evolution during heat treatment and long term aging was employed in single crystal superalloys with different contents of Ru addition (0, 1·5 and 3·0 wt-%). The results show that NiAl based β phase can occur in the interdendritic region in 3Ru alloy. With increasing Ru content in the alloys, the incipient melting temperature of alloy decreases gradually, while the liquidus and solidus changed slightly. After solution treatment and the same aging treatment, the γ′ phase size decreased with increasing Ru addition. An remarkable inverse partition of alloying elements, i.e. more matrix forming elements Re and Mo distribute to the γ′ phase and more Ni element distribute to the matrix, was observed in the alloys with more Ru content after aging treatment. Ru addition can accelerate the rafting of γ′ phase and suppress the precipitation of topologically close packed (TCP) phases effectively.     

Measurements of γ/γ' Lattice Misfit and γ' Volume Fraction for a Ru-containing Nickel-based Single Crystal Superalloy

A conventional X-ray diffractometer has been used to determine the γ/γ lattice misfit and γ volume fraction for a Ru-containing nickel-based single crystal superalloy at room temperature.The rocking curve was used to characterize the distribution of subgrains.The diffraction peaks obtained by ω-2θ scan were used to determine the γ/γ lattice misfit and γ volume fraction.A three peaks fitting model was proposed.The peak fitting results are in good agreement with the model.The X-ray diffraction results indicate that the nickel-based single crystal superalloy was not a perfect monocrystalline material,which is comprised of many subgrains;and each subgrain also consists of large numbers of mosaic structures.In addition,two anomalous reflection phenomena were found during the experiment and discussed with respect to their occurrence and impact on the measurement.The experimental results show that the γ/γ lattice misfit and γ volume fraction will be various at the different regions of its dendritic microstructure.The average γ/γ lattice misfit and γ volume fraction of the experimental alloy are approximately-0.2% and 70%,respectively.Furthermore,the γ volume fraction calculated by atom microprobe(AP) data is also basically consistent with the experimental results.     

Stacking faults of metastable γ″ phase precipitated in an Ni-15Cr-8Fe-6Nb alloy

Abstract

The stacking faults of a metastable γ″ phase precipitated in a nickel base superalloy, a modified JIS NCF 3 type alloy (X–750M), are investigated by TEM and an X-ray diffraction method. The γ″ precipitates are circular shaped plates at the early stage of aging and they become elliptic or irregular shaped plates at the latter stage of aging at temperatures up to 1033 K. Contrast which suggests the existence of stacking faults on {112}_γ″ planes can be seen in many of the large γ″ precipitates extracted from the specimens aged at 1033 K for 36 ks or more. It is clear that the values of γ″ ?γ lattice mismatch increase with increasing aging time from the measurement of lattice constants of the γ and the γ″ phases. The formation of stacking faults on {112}_γ″ planes in the large γ″ precipitates is due to the movement of an a/6 <disp-formula><graphic href="splitsection1-m1.tif"/></disp-formula> partial dislocation introduced by γ″ ?γ coherency strain. Since a part of the stacking sequence has a similar crystal structure to that of stable δ phase precipitates in a γ″ phase, the formation of stacking faults in the γ″ precipitates is considered to be favourable for their stabilisation.     

Nanoindentation and XRD investigations of single crystalline Ni-Ge brazed nickel-base superalloys PWA 1483 and René N5

Two single crystal nickel-base superalloys of the first and second generation (PWA 1483 and René N5) were diffusion brazed with two different germanium containing brazing materials which were optimised for each alloy. The two-phase microstructure of the single crystalline brazing joint consists of a γ′ precipitate phase embedded in a γ matrix.The local mechanical properties of the γ- and γ′-phases and the lattice misfit of single crystalline nickel-base superalloy brazing joints were measured over the joint region and the surrounding base material. The results for both systems show strong differences in the properties with respect to local chemical composition, hardness and lattice constants. The γ-phase in the joint center and the base material has almost the same hardness, whereas a large difference was found for the γ′-phases respectively. In both alloys the hardness of the γ′-phase in the base material was about 15% higher than in the joint. The lattice misfit at room temperature was negative in both base materials. In case of the brazing joint of René N5 a positive lattice misfit was measured, while the PWA 1483 joint shows a negative misfit in the former gap center. Accordingly the microstructural evolution of each brazing joint shows significant differences during creep.     

Guest Editorial: Personal perspective on microstructure of steels: 25th anniversary of MST and collection of papers in honour of Sir Robert Honeycombe

Abstract

The shape memory properties and microstructure associated with γ(fcc) → ?(hcp) martensitic transformation in an Fe–14Ru alloy have been investigated. The degree of shape recovery was measured via a bending test, and the microstructure was examined using X-ray diffractometry, optical microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The Fe–14Ru alloy showed shape recovery to some extent, but to a lower degree than in Fe–Mn–Si based shape memory alloys. The lower strength of the matrix, the presence of ? and α′ martensites at room temperature, and the higher stacking fault energy in the Fe–14Ru alloy are thought to be responsible for the weaker shape memory effect.     

The role of microstructural morphology on creep properties of a [0 0 1] oriented nickel‐base single crystal superalloy

The experimentally observed microstructure of nickel‐base single crystal alloy consists of a large volume of cuboidal γ′ precipitates coherently embedded in the γ matrix. In calculation, a representative volume element is usually used to represent the whole structures due to the regular γ/γ′ topological structures. Here, three experimentally found microstructures have been extracted to generate the representative volume elements. One is constituted by one cuboidal γ′ phase surrounded by γ phase. The other two consisted of two cuboidal γ′ phases and one rectangle γ′ phase with different arrangement of the two γ′ phases. The misfit stress is taken into consideration by different thermal expansion coefficients of the two phases. The influences of different microstructures on the macro‐creep strain evolution, rafting and stress distributions are discussed.     

GH742中γ′相和γ基体成分随时效时间和温度的变化规律研究

利用透射电镜能谱法(TEM-EDX)研究了GH742合金中γ′和γ基体两相成分随温度和时效时间的变化规律.结果表明:合金在1050℃时效时,γ′相和γ基体的成分在时效初期变化较大,当时效时间超过1440min后,γ′相和γ基体的成份基本稳定.合金在750～1100℃时效时,γ′相和γ基体的成分均随着温度的升高而发生变化,其中γ基体的成分随温度变化较明显.合金中各元素在γ′和γ两相中的偏析率Cγ′/ Cγ变化规律研究表明:Ti,Al,Nb,Ni等γ′形成元素的偏析率均随着时效温度的升高而降低,而Cr,Co,Mo等γ形成元素的偏析率均随着时效温度的升高而增大.     

Effects of Al on microstructural stability and related stress-rupture properties of a third-generation single crystal superalloy

To examine the influences of minor modification of Al content on the microstructural stabilities and stress rupture properties,two alloys with minor difference in Al content were exposed isothermally at 1100 ℃ for 100 h,500 h,and 1000 h,respectively.The microstructures were characterized before and after thermal exposure.It was found that when Al content was decreased by 0.4 wt %,the volume fractionγ' decreased by 4 %,the size of γ' increased by 40 nm,the matrix channel width increased by 5 nm,and the misfit degree of γ/γ' phases increased by 0.006 % after heat treatment(HT).During thermal exposure,the alloy with low Al content had a better resistance to coarsening of γ' phase and precipitation of μphase.The γ' particles of the alloy with high AI content tended to connect each other and coarsened along 100directions;however,the γ' particles of the alloy with low Al content remained cubic after 500 h.A serious coarsening behavior took place in the two alloys after aging for 1000 h.The structural stabilities were significantly improved.However,the change of 0.4 wt % Al content was found to have little effect on the high temperature stress-rupture properties.     

Effects of stacking fault energy on the creep behaviors of Ni-base superalloy

Cobalt in a 23 wt.% Co containing Ni-base superalloys was systematically substituted by Ni in order to study the effects of stacking fault energy (SFE) on the creep mechanisms. The deformation microstructures of the alloys during different creep stages at 725 °C and 630 MPa were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the creep life increased as the SFE decreased corresponding to the increase of Co content in the alloys. At primary creep stage, the dislocation was difficult to dissociate independent of SFE. In contrast, at secondary and tertiary creep stages the dislocations dissociated at γ/γ′ interface and the partial dislocation started to shear γ′ precipitates, leaving isolated faults (IFs) in high SFE alloy, while the dislocations dissociated in the matrix and the partials swept out the matrix and γ′ precipitates creating extended stacking faults (ESFs) or deformation microtwins which were involved in diffusion-mediated reordering in low SFE alloy. It is suggested that the deformation microtwinning process should be favorable with the decrease of SFE, which could enhance the creep resistance and improve the creep properties of the alloys.     

Effect of martensitic phase transformation and deformation twinning on mechanical properties of Fe–Mn–Si–AI steels

Abstract

Deformation twinning, martensitic phase transformation and mechanical properties of austenitic Fe–(15–30) wt-%Mn alloys with additions of Al and Si have been investigated. Tensile tests were carried out at different strain rates and temperatures. The formation of twins, α′ (bcc)- and ε (hcp)-martensite in the γ (fcc) matrix during plastic deformation was analysed by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Depending on the content of the alloying elements different phase transformations γ → ε, γ → α′ (TRIP effect), or the formation of deformation twins (TWIP effect) occurred. Additions of Al increased the stacking fault energy (γ_fcc) and suppressed the γ → ε transformation while Si decreased γ_fcc and sustained the γ → ε transformation. These steels with reduced densities of about 7.3 Mg m^?3 exhibit high tensile ductility up to 95% with true tensile strength of about 1100 MPa. The excellent plasticity induced by twinning or phase transformation up to extremely high strain rates of about <disp-formula><graphic href="splitsection2-m1.tif"/></disp-formula> results in an extraordinary shock resistance and allows for deep drawing and backward extrusion operations of parts with complex shapes.     

Elemental partitioning,lattice misfit and creep behaviour of Cr containing γ′ strengthened Co base superalloys

Novel Cr containing Co-Al-W base superalloys were studied by atom probe tomography and neutron diffraction. Cr is found to predominantly partition to the γ matrix and decrease partitioning of W to γ′. Furthermore, Cr significantly enhances the γ′ volume fraction, decreases the γ/γ′ lattice misfit and deteriorates the creep resistance. Addition of Ni to the Cr containing alloys affects partitioning of W and Al, further decreases the lattice misfit and results in the formation of irregularly shaped precipitates. Al, W and Cr tend to occupy the ‘B'sublattice in the γ′-A₃B phase (L1₂ type), while Co and Ni reside in the ‘A' sublattice.     

一种含4.5%Re/3.0%Ru的单晶镍基合金的高温蠕变行为

通过对含4.5%Re/3.0%Ru单晶镍基合金进行高温蠕变性能测试,并采用扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)对不同蠕变期间的试样进行组织形貌观察,研究了该合金的高温蠕变行为。结果表明,本实验所选用的单晶合金在高温蠕变期间具有良好的蠕变抗力,在1040℃/160MPa的蠕变寿命达到725h。高温蠕变初期,合金中γ′相沿垂直于应力轴方向转变成筏状结构,其稳态蠕变期间的变形机制是位错在基体中滑移和攀移越过筏状γ′相。高温蠕变后期,合金的变形机制是位错在基体中滑移和剪切筏状γ′相。位错的交替滑移使筏形γ′相扭曲,并在γ/γ′两相界面发生裂纹的萌生与扩展直至断裂,是合金在高温蠕变后期的断裂机制。     

Microstructure and High‐Temperature Strength of Monocrystalline Nickel‐Base Superalloys

The progress in the further development of monocrystalline nickel‐base superalloys as the most advanced turbine‐blade materials has been the result of combined efforts in alloy development and microstructural refinement. Some aspects of these developments are reviewed. The questions of microstructural stability with respect to the formation of brittle topologically closed‐packed (TCP) phases and, in particular, directional coarsening, i.e., γ/γ′ rafting under service‐near high‐temperature creep conditions are addressed. Since γ/γ′ rafting is usually accompanied by creep acceleration, attempts have been made to avoid rafting by modifying the microstructure by appropriate thermal/mechanical treatments. These attempts were not successful. On the other hand, it could be shown that pre‐rafting in compression, leading to the formation of rafts parallel to the stress axis in the case of alloys with negative γ/γ′ lattice mismatch, enhances both the isothermal high‐temperature creep and fatigue strengths. According to current understanding, there exists no optimum γ/γ′ lattice mismatch in the case of negative mismatch but, at best, an optimum compromise between low‐ and high‐temperature behavior. It is speculated that a more suitable situation could be found in alloys with positive lattice mismatch.     

The effects of Co and Ti additions on microstructures and compressive strength of Udimet710

The effects of Co and Ti additions on the microstructures and compressive strength of the Ni-based superalloy Udiemt710 (U710) were investigated. The preliminary results showed that the Ni₃Ti-type (η) phase was observed in the alloys with low Co and Ti content; while a (Ni_xCo_1?x)₃Ti phase with a hexagonal structure was detected in the alloys with high Co and Ti content. The γ′ → η → (Ni_xCo_1?x)₃Ti phase transformation was discussed in terms of Co and Ti contents. The γ′ morphology changed from spherical to cuboidal with increasing Co and Ti content. Compressive tests showed that the alloys with Co and Ti addition possessed higher yield strength than the base alloy, U710. The strength increase could be ascribed to solid–solution strengthening of the γ and γ′ phases as a result of the Co and Ti additions, and the higher volume fraction of γ′ in the new alloys.     

Effects of alloy additions on the microstructures and tensile properties of cast Co-Cr-Mo alloy used for surgical implants

The composition of the Co-Cr-Mo alloy has been modified by additions of nickel and some trace elements aluminium, titanium and boron. In this paper, the first part of the present study, the effects of alloy additions on the microstructures and tensile properties of the as-cast Co-Cr-Mo alloy are discussed. The effects of alloy additions on the fatigue behaviour of the alloy will be discussed in the second part of the present study. It is found that alloy additions do not seem to result in changes in the nature of the casting structure. A directional, coarse dendritic cast structure is produced in the modified alloys as in the base alloY. However, the alloy additions affect the carbide precipitations and the formation of some fine details of the microstructure such as dislocations, stacking faults and twins produced during the solidification. A considerable improvement in the transient mechanical properties, especially in the tensile ductility, is achieved by modifying the base alloy with alloy additions.     

Influence of minor additions on characteristics of Cu–Al–Ni alloy

Abstract

The aluminium and nickel contents of Cu–Al–Ni alloy are varied to relate the parent phase chemistry to its shape memory behaviour. Rare earth and grain refining elements (titanium, zirconium, boron, etc.) are added in minor quantities to assess their effects on the grain refinement of the alloy and also on its shape recovery behaviour. It is observed that increasing the aluminium and nickel contents decreases the shape recovery temperature whereas minor additions are found to increase it. The alloys have been aged in the parent as well as the martensitic phase to investigate the influence of minor additions on their aging response. It is observed that precipitation of γ₂ phase occurs during the initial stage of aging of the ternary alloy. The aging behaviour is monitored via changes in resistivity and hardness of the alloys during aging. Minor additions are found to retard the precipitation of γ₂ phase during aging. Titanium and rare earths particularly reduce the tendency for grain coarsening in the alloy. It is further observed that two types of martensite, β′₁ and γ′₁, are produced in the alloys under investigation. The transformation temperatures of these martensites are also related to the aluminium content of the alloy.

MST/1744     

Influence of chromium on microstructure and etching behaviour of new Ni–Fe–Al based alloy

In the present study, the influence of chromium on the microstructure and etching behaviour of the polycrystalline alloy Ni–13Fe–8Al–4Ti (at-%) has been examined. The alloy was recently designed for nanomembrane fabrication, but although it showed the necessary γ/γ′ microstructure with cubic, well aligned γ′ precipitates, it proved to be unsuitable for nanomembrane fabrication as the γ matrix was dissolved during chemical etching. To obtain the passivation of the γ matrix, chromium has been added in further modifications containing 1, 2, 3 and 4 at-% chromium. Moreover, the influence of heat treatment and the different cooling rates of heat treatment in air/vacuum have been investigated. For chemical phase extraction, the application of the chemical etchants MoO₃ acid and ‘G’ etchant has been examined, the formability was characterised by Vickers hardness testing. The main purpose of the present study, namely the passivation of the γ matrix, could be achieved by the addition of 4 at-% chromium and etching with ‘G’ etchant.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of CoCrNi-Mo medium entropy alloys:Experiments and first-principle calculations

The effect of Mo additions on the microstructures and mechanical properties of CoCrNi alloys was investigated,meanwhile,ab initio calculations are performed to quantitatively evaluate the lattice distortion and stacking fault energy(SFE).The yield strength,ultimate tensile strength,and elongation of(CoCrNi)₉₇Mo₃alloy are 475 MPa,983 MPa and 69%,respectively.The yield strength is increased by~30%and high ductility is maintained,in comparison with CoCrNi alloy.Besides the nano-twins and dislocations,the higher density of stacking faults is induced during the tensile deformation for(CoCrNi)₉₇Mo₃alloy.Ab initio calculation results indicate the mean square atomic displacement(MSAD)and SFE value of(CoCrNi)₉₇Mo₃alloy is 42.6 pm²and-40.4 mJ/m²at 0 K,respectively.The relationship between mechanical properties and MSAD,SFE for various multiple principal element alloys is discussed.