Effect of Long-Term Aging on the Microstructures and Stress Rupture Properties of a Ni-Based Single Crystal Superalloy at 980°C

The effect of aging time at 980°C on the microstructures and mechanic properties for a single crystal Ni-based superalloy was investigated in this paper. The results showed that γ’ size distribution portrayed a low growth rate and maintained well cubic during aging for 0~1000h at 980°C. However, γ’ phase was gradually coarsened directionally during the aging for 1000~2500h at 980°C, indicating that the γ’ phase coarsening was controlled by diffusion during aging for 0~1000h at 980°C. In addition, the γ’ phase coarsening was also susceptible to the interface reaction during aging for 1000~2500h at 980°C. Furthermore the precipitated phase was analyzed, and the results showed that only slightly Topologically Close-Packed (TCP) phase was precipitated after aging for 1500h at 980°C which indicates that the microstructures of alloy were stable during aging for up to 1500 hours. At the same time, stress rupture life decreased rapidly for 0~250h, but basically kept constant value when aged for 250~1500h, then decreased rapidly again aging for 1500~2000h.