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Yuhua Xiong, Aimin Yang, Yiping Guo, Wei Liu & Lin Liu
To cite this article: Yuhua Xiong, Aimin Yang, Yiping Guo, Wei Liu & Lin Liu (2001) Effect of
fine–grained structure on the mechanical properties of superalloys K3 and K4169, Science and
Technology of Advanced Materials, 2:1, 7-11, DOI: 10.1016/S1468-6996(01)00018-3
S C I E N C E A N D
TECHNOLOGY OF
ADVANCED
MATERIALS
Science and Technology of Advanced Materials 2 (2001) 7±11
www.elsevier.com/locate/stam
Abstract
The ®ne-grained structures of superalloys K3 and K4169 were achieved by the addition of re®ners. Test bars for the determination of
mechanical properties were cast under the chosen conditions to study the tensile properties at room and intermediate temperatures, and the
stress rupture properties at intermediate temperatures. Results show that for alloy K3, the yield and tensile strengths of the ®ne-grained
samples are superior to those of the conventional ones at room and intermediate temperatures, but there is little difference in tensile plasticity.
The stress rupture life of the ®ne-grained sample is much longer than that of the conventional at 7508C, whereas it has no remarkable change
at 8008C. For alloy K4169, the yield and tensile strengths of ®ne-grained samples are still superior to those of the conventional ones at room
temperature and 7608C. In addition, the stress rupture life of the ®ne-grained sample is 1.1 times longer than that of the conventional one at
7608C. However, the permanent plasticity almost remains the same. The fracture of the samples was examined by scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and the fracture mechanisms were investigated. q 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Keywords: Superalloy K3; Superalloy K4169; Grain re®nement; Mechanical properties; Fractography
Table 1
Process parameters for the test bars of alloys K3 and K4169 (Tg, melt superheating temperature; Tp, melt pouring temperature; Tm, mould preheating
temperature)
Superalloy Sample Re®ner Content (wt%) Ts (8C) Tp (8C) Tm (8C) Grain size (min)
Room temperature a 805 970 9 10.5 3.1.2. The stress rupture properties at intermediate
b 885 1070 14 6.5
temperatures
750 a 785 950 3.5 8.0
b 885 1020 4.0 4.5 The test results are shown in Table 3. The ®ne grain has a
800 a 765 915 7.0 7.0 much longer stress rupture life than the conventional one at
b 880 995 3.5 6.5 7508C, which is ascribed to the grain boundary strength
being greater than the strength within the grains at 7508C.
Thus, ®ne-grained structures are helpful to prevent crack
seen that the ®ne-grained sample has a higher yield strength propagation. However, there is no evident change at
(improved by 9.9% at room temperature, 12.7% at 7508C, 8008C. That is the grain boundary strength is almost
and 15% at 8008C, respectively) and tensile strength equivalent to the strength within the grains, indicating that
(improved by 10.3% at room temperature, 7.3% at 7508C, 8008C is close to the equal strength temperature for alloy K3.
and 8.7% at 8008C, respectively) than the conventional one.
At room temperature and 7508C, there is no obvious 3.1.3. The mechanism of the fracture
difference in tensile plasticity between the ®ne and con- The typical morphologies of brittle and mixed fractures
ventional grain structures. In contrast, the reduction in are shown in Fig. 1. After examination with SEM, it can be
area decreases after grain re®nement. It is believed that concluded that the fracture of the ®ne grain tensile samples
although well-distributed MC carbides are advantageous is mixed cracking at room and intermediate temperatures
to improve plasticity, the addition of trace Zr Ð one and that the fracture of the conventional tensile samples is
component of re®ner B Ð causes the incipient temperature brittle at room temperature and mixed fracture at intermedi-
of alloy K3 to decrease [7]. Therefore, the amount of ate temperatures. The fracture of the stress rupture proper-
eutectic increases, aggravating local segregation in front ties of conventional and ®ne-grained samples at 760 and
of the eutectic. Moreover, segregation areas might be 8008C is mixed.
the source of a crack. As a result the reduction in area
reduces. 3.2. Alloy K4169
At 8008C, the plasticity level reduces after grain re®ne-
ment, which may result from oxidization at grain bound- 3.2.1. The tensile properties at room temperature and 7608C
aries. That is, the precipitates at grain boundaries have a The data of tensile properties at room temperature and
lower ability than the g matrix to resist oxidization. Further- 7608C are listed in Table 4. Apparently, at room temperature,
Table 3
Comparison of stress rupture properties between samples a and b of alloy K3 at intermediate temperatures
Temperature (8C) a b
Stress (Mpa) Lasting time (h) Stress (MPa) Lasting time (h)
Fig. 1. Typical morphologies of brittle and mixed fractures in alloy K3: (a) brittle fracture; (b) mixed fracture.
Fig. 2. Typical morphologies of tenacious dense and cleavage steps in alloy K4169: (a) tenacious dense; (b) cleavage steps.
the same time, tenacious dense structure form at the room temperature and 7508C, and it decreases at 8008C
precipitates. after grain re®nement. The stress rupture life of the ®ne-
The fracture of the ®ne-grained structures seems to be grained sample is much longer than that of the con-
uneven and there are more tenacious dense structures than ventional one at 7508C, but it has no obvious difference
cleavage steps. At 7608C, the strengths within the grains and at 8008C.
between grain boundaries both decrease compared with 2. For alloy K3, the fracture of the ®ne-grained tensile
those at room temperature, which leads to more serious samples is mixed at room and intermediate temperatures,
local stress concentration. When the direction of stress is and the fracture of the conventional tensile samples is
favourable for crack to propagate along certain cleavage brittle at room temperature and mixed at intermediate
facets, local cleavage crack appears. Despite that, the temperature. The fracture of conventional and ®ne-
amount of tenacious dense structure is much more than grained stress rupture samples at 760 and 8008C is mixed.
that of cleavage steps at 7608C. 3. For alloy K4169, the yield and tensile strengths of the
®ne-grained test bars are superior to those of the con-
3.2.3.3. The fracture of the stress rupture. Since there is no ventional ones at room temperature and 7608C, and the
signi®cant difference in permanent plasticity between ®ne tensile plasticity is also higher for ®ne grains. The stress
and conventional grains, the fractures of both are similar. rupture life of the ®ne-grained sample improves 110%
Their fractures have nearly the same amount of tenacious compared to that of the conventional one at 7608C,
dense structure and cleavage steps, suggesting that the whereas the permanent plasticity remains almost the
fracture is mixed. same.
Although there is little difference in permanent plasticity, 4. For alloy K4169, the fracture of the ®ne-grained tensile
great difference exists in rupture life between conventional samples is tenacious at room and intermediate tempera-
and ®ne-grained structures. The reason is that the size of tures. The fracture of the conventional tensile samples is
grains in¯uences the ability of structures to resist stress. For brittle at room temperature and mixed at intermediate
conventional grain structures, no matter what kind of crack, temperature, and the fracture of conventional and ®ne-
tenacious or cleavage crack, the propagation of a crack takes grained stress rupture samples is mixed.
place in one or several grains, thus cracks propagates fast.
However, for ®ne-grained structures, both tenacious and
cleavage cracks appear in small areas because of ®ne
grain size. Therefore, the resistance against the propagation References
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