Effect of annealing twins, strain-recrystallization processing and δ-phase fraction on microtexture and evaluation of mechanical properties of nickel-based superalloy 718

Abstract

The Nickel-based superalloy 718 is a precipitation-hardened material, especially by the ordered and coherent phases γ” (Ni3Nb) and γ″ (Ni3 (Al, Ti)). In addition to these phases, precipitation of carbides and δ-phase is possible. This material has high strength, creep, and corrosion resistance at temperatures up to 650 °C. However, despite the alloy’s outstanding performance under harsh environments, research effort has been put into optimizing its properties and increasing the operation temperature. Manipulation of microstructural parameters such as grain boundary character distribution (GBCD), microtexture, second phase fraction, etc. is frequently betaken in order ot achieve better properties. In this context, this work aimed to assess the influence of Thermomechanical Processing on the recrystallization texture of the material and its influence on the alloy’s mechanical behavior. The material was submitted to four iterative processing routes, composed of deformation-heat treatment cycles. The alloy’s microtexture data were obtained through the Electron Backscattered Diffraction technique. Data processing was performed using the MTEX toolbox, where Orientation Density Functions were obtained for microtexture analysis. It was observed that the deformation imposed during thermomechanical processing significantly affects the recrystallization texture of the material so that smaller deformations induce the formation of typical recrystallization texture components; on the other hand, high degrees of deformation lead to a retained deformation texture after annealing. Mechanical properties were evaluated by depicting the influence of different strengthening mechanisms and δ-phase fraction on yield strength and ductility, respectively. It was observed that the main strengthening parameters for the alloy were grain boundaries and intrinsic resistance (Pierls-Nabarro and solid solution), meanwhile ductility was greatly influenced by δ-phase and ∑3n boundaries fractions.