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Acta Metall Sin  2026, Vol. 62 Issue (6): 1043-1058    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00350
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Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Inertial Friction Welded Joints for FGH96 Superalloy
WANG Bin1, ZHAO Peng2, LIU Jiawei1, ZHANG Chunbo3, QIN Zhiwei1, DONG Honggang1, LI Peng1()
1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
2 AECC Aviation Power Co. Ltd., Xi'an 710021, China
3 CAM Harbin Welding Institute Limited Company, Harbin 150028, China
Cite this article: 

WANG Bin, ZHAO Peng, LIU Jiawei, ZHANG Chunbo, QIN Zhiwei, DONG Honggang, LI Peng. Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Inertial Friction Welded Joints for FGH96 Superalloy. Acta Metall Sin, 2026, 62(6): 1043-1058.

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Abstract  

Aero engines serve as a critical indicator of national comprehensive strength and technological advancement. However, their performance enhancement poses considerable challenges to the manufacturing technologies of hot-end components. Hot-end structures undergo inertial friction welding, which effectively avoids the defects associated with fusion welding and has been widely adopted for high-quality joining of these structures. This study addresses the inherent process limitations of inertial friction welded joints, including strengthening phase dissolution within the welding zone (WZ), along with axial and radial microstructural heterogeneity, and proposes a customized post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) strategy for inertial friction welded joints of FGH96 superalloys. A systematic investigation was conducted on the effects of solution aging and double aging on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties. The results indicated that increasing the solution temperature leads to grain coarsening and enhanced recrystallization, accompanied by pronounced precipitation and growth of the γ′ strengthening phase, a more uniform carbide distribution, and intensified grain boundary serration within the WZ compared to joints at low solution temperature. At a solution temperature of 1140 oC, abnormal grain growth occurred, along with coarsening and inhomogeneous distribution of the γ′ strengthening phase. After solution aging, the impact toughness of the joints improved with increasing solution temperature, whereas the tensile strength initially increased and then decreased. At the solution temperature of 1080 oC, the grain size and γ′ strengthening phase were moderate and uniformly distributed, the degree of recrystallization and grain boundary serration were relatively high, carbides were uniformly dispersed, and microstructural inhomogeneity was notably improved. Under this condition, the ultimate tensile strengths of the joints at room temperature and 750 °C were 1455 and 1042 MPa, respectively; and the impact toughness reached 41 J/cm2, demonstrating an optimal strength-toughness synergy. Double aging promoted the uniform precipitation of tertiary γ′ strengthening phase in the WZ, resulting in tensile strengths of 1574 and 1279 MPa at room temperature and 750 oC, respectively, approaching base metal levels. Meanwhile, the hardness was considerably enhanced beyond the base metal, although the impact toughness was slightly reduced compared with the as-welded joints.

Key words:  post-weld heat treatment      inertial friction welding      γ′ strengthening phase      microstructure      mechanical property     
Received:  31 October 2025     
ZTFLH:  TG132.3  
Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52375313);National Natural Science Foundation of China(51605075)
Corresponding Authors:  LI Peng, professor, Tel: (0411)84706283, E-mail: lipeng2016@dlut.edu.cn

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00350     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2026/V62/I6/1043

Fig.1  Twin structure (a) and γ′ strengthening phase (b) morphologies, post-weld heat treatment processes (SA—solution aging, DA—double aging) (c), photograph of the welding equipment (d), and sampling locations for microstructural (e) and mechanical test (f) specimens (unit: mm)
Fig.2  Inverse pole figures (IPFs) showing grain distributions along axial direction of welded joint (a) and post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions (b-e) (WZ—welding zone, TMAZ—thermo-mechanically affected zone, HAZ—heat affected zone, BM—base metal. 1030, 1080, and 1140 oC SA denotes a 2 h solution treatment at 1030, 1080, and 1140 oC, respectively; and a subsequent 10 h aging at 760 oC)
(a) as-served (AS) (b) DA (c) 1030 oC SA (d) 1080 oC SA (e) 1140 oC SA
Fig.3  Average grain size distributions of welded joint and post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions
Fig.4  Grain distribution maps along the axial direction of welded joint (a) and post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions (b-e)
(a) AS (b) DA (c) 1030 oC SA (d) 1080 oC SA (e) 1140 oC SA
Fig.5  Area fractions of grains along the axial direction of welded joint and post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions
(a) recrystallized grains (b) substructured grains (c) deformed grains
Fig.6  SEM images showing strengthening phase distributions in WZ (a1-e1) and BM zones (a2-e2) of welded joint (a1, a2) and post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions (b1-e1, b2-e2) (a1, a2) AS (b1, b2) DA (c1, c2) 1030 oC SA (d1, d2) 1080 oC SA (e1, e2) 1140 oC SA
Fig.7  SEM images showing grain boundary morphologies and carbides in WZ (a1-e1) and BM zones (a2-e2) of welded joint (a1, a2) and post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions (b1-e1, b2-e2) (a1, a2) AS (b1, b2) DA (c1, c2) 1030 oC SA (d1, d2) 1080 oC SA (e1, e2) 1140 oC SA
Fig.8  IPFs showing microstructure inhomogeneity of different regions in welded joint
(a) outside (b) center (c) inside
Fig.9  Analyses of special boundaries along the radial direction of welded joint (a1-a3) grain boundary maps at outside (a1), center (a2), and inside (a3) regions of welded joint (HAGBs—high angle grain boundaries, θ—misorientation angle) (b) average grain sizes of welded joint at different regions (c) fractions of low ΣCSL boundaries at different regions (CSL—coincidence site lattice)
Fig.10  IPFs showing microstructure inhomogeneity of 1080 oC SA joint
(a) outside (b) center (c) inside
Fig.11  Average grain size distributions of different regions in 1080 oC SA joint
Fig.12  Microhardnesses of welded joint and post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions
Fig.13  Mechanical properties of post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions (RT—room temperature)
Fig.14  Photographs (left) and SEM images (right) of post-weld heat treatment joints under different conditions after tensile fractured at room temperature (a, c, e, g) and 750 oC (b, d, f, h) (a, b) DA (c, d) 1030 oC SA (e, f) 1080 oC SA (g, h) 1140 oC SA
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