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Acta Metall Sin  2024, Vol. 60 Issue (9): 1189-1199    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2023.00263
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Effect of Electron Beam Smelting Power on Microstructure, Segregation, and γ′ Phase Precipitation Behavior of GH4068 Alloy
BAI Rusheng1,2, TAN Yi1,2(), CUI Hongyang1,2, NING Lidan1,2, CUI Chuanyong3, WANG Yunpeng1, LI Pengting1,2
1.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
2.Key Laboratory For Energy Beam Metallurgy and Advanced Materials Preparation of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
3.Shi -changxu Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Cite this article: 

BAI Rusheng, TAN Yi, CUI Hongyang, NING Lidan, CUI Chuanyong, WANG Yunpeng, LI Pengting. Effect of Electron Beam Smelting Power on Microstructure, Segregation, and γ′ Phase Precipitation Behavior of GH4068 Alloy. Acta Metall Sin, 2024, 60(9): 1189-1199.

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Abstract  

The as-cast structure of high-alloyed wrought superalloys exhibits disadvantages such as high microscopic segregation and poor microstructure uniformity, severely affecting their subsequent hot working and deformation properties. To optimize the as-cast structure of the wrought superalloy, GH4068 alloy was smelted via electron beam smelting (EBS), and its ingots with low segregation were prepared by setting different EBS powers for 10 min. The results show that the bottom of the ingots after EBS appeared to be fine grain regions, with the presence of only cellular segregation structure and cellular dendritic crystal; the large area in the middle became vertically growing columnar crystal regions, the direction of secondary dendrite crystal growth was parallel to that of the columnar crystal growth; a small amount of equiaxed crystal was observed at the top, and the growth direction of dendritic crystals was disordered. Analyzing the compositions of ingots revealed that Cr volatilization in this alloy was the most obvious; the Cr content decreased by 1.97% when the EBS power was 17 kW. The ingot structure prepared via EBS was more highly distributed than that obtained using the traditional vacuum induction melting + electroslag remelting duplex process. When the EBS power was 12 kW, the secondary dendrite spacing λ2 was 44.6 μm, which was 32.2% less than that yielded using the duplex process, the degree of the microscopic segregation of the ingot dendrite region decreased considerably, and the degree of the microscopic segregation of the typical easily segregated elements Ti and W reduced by 20.4% and 18.6%, respectively. Furthermore, the massive precipitation of large interdendritic γ′ phases were observed, while the γ′ phases in the dendritic core were spherical and smaller in size than those in the interdendritic. Meanwhile, the ingot prepared with an EBS power of 12 kW achieved the smallest size for γ′ phases and least irregular γ′ phases in the interdendritic. In the EBS process, the actual melt temperature was considerably higher than the alloy melting temperature. After the overheating of the melt, the cluster structure effectively decomposed, elements were uniformly distributed, the degree of subcooling increased in the solidification process, and the uniformity of the melt was inherited to the solidification structure to refine the as-cast structure and reduce the degree of microscopic segregation. Meanwhile, during the EBS process, local high temperature generated due to the electron beam bombardment on the surface of the molten pool effectively reduced the N content in the alloy.

Key words:  electron beam smelting      superalloy      dendritic structure      microscopic segregation     
Received:  19 June 2023     
ZTFLH:  TF19  
Fund: National Key Research and Development Program of China(2019YFA0705300)
Corresponding Authors:  TAN Yi, professor, Tel: (0411)84707583, E-mail: lnsolar@dlut.edu.cn

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2023.00263     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2024/V60/I9/1189

Fig.1  Schematic of SEBM-30A electron beam smelting (EBS) equipment (ODP—oil diffusion pump, MVP—mechanical vacuum pump, RVP—roots vacuum pump)
Fig.2  DSC temperature rise curve of GH4068 alloy
Fig.3  Macroscopic morphologies of upper (a) and bottom (b) surfaces of GH4068 alloy ingot with EBS power of 12 kW for 10 min
Fig.4  Mass losses and mass loss rates of GH4068 alloy ingots with different EBS powers for 10 min
Power / kWMoWCoCrTiAlNi
100.0500-0.680.060.03-
120.0900.06-1.370.220.03-
140.1000.11-1.380.240.02-
170.150.01-0.09-1.970.390.08-
Table 1  Amount of variation of each element content relative to the raw material of GH4068 alloy ingots with different EBS powers for 10 min
Fig.5  OM images of macroscopic grains (a, a1-a3) and dendritic structures (b, b1-b3) in the central region of GH4068 alloy ingot at EBS power of 12 kW for 10 min
(a, b) overall macrostructures (a1, b1) upper (a2, b2) middle (a3, b3) bottom
Fig.6  Curves of temperature gradient (G) and solidification rate (R) versus solidification time (a), and effect of G /R and composition (ω0) on grain growth morphology of alloy (b)
Fig.7  Secondary dendrite spacing (λ2) and cooling rates of GH4068 alloy ingots with duplex melting[14] and with different EBS powers for 10 min
Fig.8  Schematic of relationships between superheat temperature, nucleation subcooling, and cluster structure change
Fig.9  Low BSE-SEM image (a), and high magnified BSE-SEM image of GH4068 alloy ingot with EBS power of 12 kW for 10 min and corresponding EPMA surface scanning element distributions (b)
Fig.10  Microscopic segregation coefficients of elements in GH4068 alloy ingots obtained by duplex melting[14] and EBS with different powers for 10 min
Fig.11  SEM images of precipitation of γ' phase in dendritic core of GH4068 alloy ingots with EBS powers of 10 kW (a), 12 kW (b), 14 kW (c), and 17 kW (d) for 10 min
Fig.12  SEM images of precipitation of γ' phase in interdendritic of GH4068 alloy ingots with EBS powers of 10 kW (a), 12 kW (b), 14 kW (c), and 17 kW (d) for 10 min
Fig.13  Average sizes of dendritic core and interdendritic γ′ phase of GH4068 alloy ingots with different EBS powers for 10 min
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