1Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced High Temperature Materials, Central Iron and Steel Research Institute, Beijing 100081, China 2Gaona Aero Material Co., Ltd, Beijing 100081, China
Cite this article:
DU Jinhui, BI Zhongnan, QU Jinglong. Recent Development of Triple Melt GH4169 Alloy. Acta Metall Sin, 2023, 59(9): 1159-1172.
The breakthrough application of triple melt technology (vacuum induction melting (VIM) + electroslag remelting (ESR) + vacuum arc remelting (VAR)) for fabricating GH4169 alloy facilitated the optimization of the entire production process of GH4169 disks. This paper summarizes the research progress on the chemical composition, triple melting, homogenization treatment, cogging, disk forging, residual stress control, and quality control system of GH4169 alloy. The breakthrough and large-scale application of triple melting technology have resulted in improved purity of the GH4169 alloy and reduced occurrence probability of metallurgical defects. In addition, the microstructural uniformity and yield of forging bars have been improved by the combination of fast (upsetting and drawing) and radial forging. Furthermore, deformations occurring during the machining and operation of GH4169 disks have been reduced using residual stress control technology. Results related to ultrahigh strength, ultralarge scale, high corrosion resistance, and hydrogen embrittlement characteristics of GH4169 alloy are discussed, and potential future research directions are outlined here.
Fund: National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFF0609300);National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFA0700703);National Science and Technology Major Project of China(2019-VI-0021-0137)
Fig.1 Evolution processes of sulfur and oxygen element contents of GH4169 alloy
Fig.2 Simulation results of alloy liquid movement in the flow channel
Fig.3 Simulation results of temperature distribution (Tliquidus—liquidus temperature, 1373.3oC; Tsolidus—solidus temperature, 1276.7oC. t1-t8 indicate different time) (a) and tangential stress (b) and axial stress (c) in ingot mold at different time during vacuum induction melting (VIM) pouring
Slag
Domestic
Domestic optimization
Oversea
CaF2
50
55
70
CaO
20
20
15
Al2O3
22
16
15
MgO
5
3
0
TiO2
3
6
0
Table 2 Compositions of GH4169 alloy slag
Fig.4 Quantity densities of different types of inclusions on the edge of electroslag remelting (ESR) ingot of GH4169 alloy
Fig.5 Macrostructures of vacuum arc remelting (VAR) ingot of GH4169 alloy produced by triple melt (a) numerical simulation result (b) actual anatomical result
Fig.6 Freckles formation mechanism diagram[23]
Fig.7 Proportions of inclusion with different sizes in the entire process of triple melt (a) and typical inclusion morphologies and correspording EDS mappings for MgO·Al2O3 core (b) and TiN core (c) in GH4169 alloy
Fig.8 Macrostructure of GH4169 VAR ingot after homogenization
Fig.9 Effects of forging method on the grain size of GH4169 disc by numerical simulation (a) upsetting (b) die forging (c) preforging (d) finish-forging
Fig.10 Schematic of super air cooling equipment for controlling residual stress (a) and design of fluid workpiece field distribution (b) (1—workpiece, 2—rotatable support platform, 3—upper nozzle of air source, 4—lower nozzle of air source, 5—air source, 6—air compressor, 7—slide tooling of workpiece)
Fig.11 Schematic of quality stability of superalloy discs supported by national quality infrastructure (NQI)
Sample
Lab. 1
Lab. 2
Lab. 3
Lab. 4
Lab. 5
Lab. 6
Lab. 7
Error range
1
5.67
5.45
5.48
5.37
5.23
5.45
5.512
0.44
2
5.67
5.53
5.49
5.30
5.26
5.44
5.498
0.41
3
5.66
5.54
5.54
5.36
5.47
5.50
5.506
0.30
4
5.69
5.50
5.52
5.30
5.28
5.47
5.456
0.41
5
5.63
5.51
5.48
5.37
5.39
5.45
5.496
0.26
Table 3 Analysis results of Nb element in GH4169 alloy in different laboratories
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