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Acta Metall Sin  2025, Vol. 61 Issue (12): 1845-1857    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00204
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Crack Formation and Healing Mechanisms in Additively Manufactured Hard-Deformed Ni-Based Superalloy GH4975
YE Xianwen, YAO Zhihao(), WANG Hongying, WANG Zicheng, ZHANG Longyao, DONG Jianxin
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Cite this article: 

YE Xianwen, YAO Zhihao, WANG Hongying, WANG Zicheng, ZHANG Longyao, DONG Jianxin. Crack Formation and Healing Mechanisms in Additively Manufactured Hard-Deformed Ni-Based Superalloy GH4975. Acta Metall Sin, 2025, 61(12): 1845-1857.

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Abstract  

Ni-based superalloys that are difficult to deform are highly susceptible to cracking during additive manufacturing. Despite their importance, limited research has been conducted on the additive manufacturing of GH4975 superalloy. To address the cracking issues associated with such superalloys, this study focuses on additively manufactured GH4975 superalloy to investigates various crack repair strategies. Experimental approaches, including the addition of TiC heterogeneous nucleating agents to the powder, hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and hot compression, were used to explore effective methods and underlying mechanisms for crack healing. The results show that the calculated mismatch of close-packed planes between TiC and the matrix is 6.0%, with an atomic mismatch of 0.4% in the close-packed direction. Following the addition of nano-TiC particles, the average grain diameter of the GH4975 superalloy decreased from 41.9 μm to 27.2 μm, indicating significant grain refinement; however, the cracks were not effectively eliminated. The HIP repair method further removed some cracks, but microcracks wider than 3 μm remained unhealed. The most effective crack elimination was achieved through hot compression at 1200 °C with a strain rate of 0.1 s-1 and 30% deformation, which nearly eliminated cracks at the center of the as-printed sample. However, the crack healing ability decreased when hot compression was applied to samples that had already undergone HIP treatment. The main mechanisms of crack healing were identified as matrix plastic flow under external pressure and the diffusion-driven crack filling by Al elements.

Key words:  hard-deformed Ni-based superall GH4975      additive manufacturing      crack healing      nano TiC particle      hot isostatic pressing     
Received:  14 June 2024     
ZTFLH:  TG132.3  
Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52271087)
Corresponding Authors:  YAO Zhihao, professor, Tel: (010)62332884, E-mail: zhihaoyao@ustb.edu.cn

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00204     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2025/V61/I12/1845

Fig.1  SEM images showing the powder morphologies of TiC (a), GH4975 (b), and TiC mixed with GH4975 (c)
Fig.2  OM images of as-build GH4975 samples under laser powers of 160 W (a1-e1), 180 W (a2-e2), 200 W (a3-e3), 220 W (a4-e4), 240 W (b5-e5) and scan rates of 400 mm/s (a1-a4), 500 mm/s (b1-b5), 600 mm/s (c1-c5), 700 mm/s (d1-d5), 800 mm/s (e1-e5) (BD—building direction. Printing was terminated due to severe warping at laser power 240 W and scan rate 400 mm/s)
Fig.3  SEM images of cracks in as-build GH4975 (a, b) and TiC-GH4975 (c) samples (Fig.3b shows the crack morphology at high magnification)
Fig.4  EBSD images of as-build GH4975 (a) and TiC-GH4975 (b) samples
Fig.5  SEM images showing the crack morphologies (a, b) and statistics of crack width (c, d) of as-build TiC-GH4975 sample before (a, c) and after (b, d) hot isostatic pressing (HIP)
Fig.6  SEM images of as-build TiC-GH4975 samples before (a) and after (b) HIP, and EBSD image after HIP (c)
Color online
Fig.7  Cross-sectional SEM images of TiC-GH4975 HIPed samples after hot compression at 1160 oC (a, c, e) and 1200 oC (b, d, f) in the center (a, b), near the end face (c, d), and in the end face (e, f)
Fig.8  Cross-sectional SEM images of TiC-GH4975 as-build samples after hot compression at 1160 oC (a, c, e) and 1200 oC (b, d, f) in the center (a, b), near the end face (c, d), and in the end face (e, f)
Fig.9  SEM images of TiC-GH4975 HIPed (a, c) and as-build (b, d) samples after hot compression at 1160 oC (a, b) and 1200 oC (c, d)
Sample1160 oC1200 oC
HIPed283168
As-build306202
Table 1  Peak stresses of TiC-GH4975 HIPed and as-build samples after hot compression at 1160 and 1200 oC
Fig.10  Healing of central cracks in TiC-GH4975 HIPed (a, b) and as-build (c, d) samples after hot compression at 1160 oC (a, c) and 1200 oC (b, d) (Insets in Figs.10a-c show the locally enlarged images)
Fig.11  SEM image of unhealed cracks and corresponding EDS elemental maps (a) and SEM image of healed crack traces and corresponding EDS analysis result (inset) (b) (wm—mass fraction, wa—atomic fraction)
Fig.12  Schematics showing the mechanisms of crack healing during HIP (Blue indicates the enrichment level of Al and Ti elements, red point highlights represent the primary factors influencing the change in this step, gray point highlights denote non-primary factors)
(a) crack morphology and element diffusion trend
(b) crack healing caused by heat and pressure, elements gather at the crack due to oxygen induction
(c) crack healing is completed
(d) elements diffuse back to the matrix caused by heat
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