Deformation and recrystallization behavior during hot working of a coarse-grain,nickel-base superalloy ingot material

The deformation and dynamic recrystallization behavior of Waspaloy-ingot material with coarse, columnar grains was established using isothermal uniaxial and double-cone compression tests. Testing was conducted along different test directions relative to the columnar-grain microstructure at supersolvus temperatures (1066 °C and 1177 °C) and strain rates (0.005 and 0.1 s⁻¹), which bracket typical ingot-breakdown conditions for the material. The flow behavior of axial samples (i.e., those compressed parallel to the columnar-grain direction) showed an initial strain-hardening transient followed by steady-state flow. In contrast, the stress-strain curves of samples upset transverse to the columnar grains exhibited a peak stress at low strains, whose magnitude was greater than the steady-state flow stress of the axial samples, followed by flow softening. The two distinct flow behaviors were explained on the basis of the solidification texture associated with the starting ingot structure, differences in the kinetics of dynamic recrystallization revealed in the double-cone tests, and the evolution of deformation and recrystallization textures during hot working. Dynamic recrystallization kinetics were measurably faster for the transverse samples as well as specimens oriented at ∼45 deg to the forging direction, an effect partially rationalized based on the initial texture and its effect on the input rate of deformation work driving recrystallization. Despite these differences, the overall strains required for dynamic recrystallization were comparable to those measured previously for fine-grain (wrought) Waspaloy. However, the Avrami exponents (∼2 to 3) were somewhat higher than those for wrought material (∼1 to 2), an effect attributable to the particle-stimulated nucleation in the ingot material.