Investigation on Sub-Solvus Recrystallization Mechanisms in an Advanced γ-γ' Nickel-Based Superalloy GH4151.

Sub-solvus dynamic recrystallization (DRX) mechanisms in an advanced γ-γ' nickel-based superalloy GH4151 were investigated by isothermal compression experiments at 1040 °C with a strain rate of 0.1 s-1 and various true strain of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7, respectively. This has not been reported in literature before. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) technology were used for the observation of microstructure evolution and the confirmation of DRX mechanisms. The results indicate that a new dynamic recrystallization mechanism occurs during hot deformation of the hot-extruded GH4151 alloy. The nucleation mechanism can be described as such a feature, that is a primary γ' (Ni3(Al, Ti, Nb)) precipitate embedded in a recrystallized grain existed the same crystallographic orientation, which is defined as heteroepitaxial dynamic recrystallization (HDRX). Meanwhile, the conventional DRX mechanisms, such as the discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) characterized by bulging grain boundary and continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) operated through progressive sub-grain merging and rotation, also take place during the hot deformation of the hot-extruded GH4151 alloy. In addition, the step-shaped structures can be observed at grain boundaries, which ensure the low-energy surface state during the DRX process.

Superplastic Deformation and Dynamic Recrystallization of a Novel Disc Superalloy GH4151.

The superplastic deformation of a hot-extruded GH4151 billet was investigated by means of tensile tests with the strain rates of 10-4 s-1, 5 × 10-4 s-1 and 10-3 s-1 and at temperatures at 1060 °C, 1080 °C and 1100 °C. The superplastic deformation of the GH4151 alloy was reported here for the first time. The results reveal that the uniform fine-grained GH4151 alloy exhibited an excellent superplasticity and high strain rate sensitivity (exceeded 0.5) under all experimental conditions. It was found that the increase of strain rate resulted in an increased average activation energy for superplastic deformation. A maximum elongation of 760.4% was determined at a temperature of 1080 °C and strain rate of 10-3 s-1. The average activation energy under different conditions suggested that the superplastic deformation with 1 × 10-4 s-1 in this experiment is mainly deemed as the grain boundary sliding controlled by grain boundary diffusion. However, with a higher stain rate of 5 × 10-4 s-1 and 1 × 10-3 s-1, the superplastic deformation is considered to be grain boundary sliding controlled by lattice diffusion. Based on the systematically microstructural examination using optical microscope (OM), SEM, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and TEM techniques, the failure and dynamic recrystallization (DRX) nucleation mechanisms were proposed. The dominant nucleation mechanism of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) is the bulging of original grain boundaries, which is the typical feature of discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX), and continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) is merely an assistant mechanism of DRX. The main contributions of DRX on superplasticity elongation were derived from its grain refinement process.