Effect of Re and Ru Addition on the Solidification and Solute Redistribution Behaviors of Ni-Base Superalloys

Abstract

The influence of rhenium (Re) and ruthenium (Ru) addition on the solidification and solute redistribution behaviors in advanced experimental Ni-base superalloys has been investigated. A series of model alloys with different levels of Re and Ru were designed based on the composition of Ni-6Al-8Ta and were prepared by vacuum arc melting of pure metallic elements. In order to identify the influence of Re and Ru addition on the thermo-physical properties, differential scanning calorimetry analyses were carried out. The results showed that Re addition marginally increases the liquidus temperature of the alloy. However, the γ' solvus was significantly increased at a rate of 8.2°C/wt.% by the addition of Re. Ru addition, on the other hand, displayed a much weaker effect on the thermo-physical properties or even no effect at all. The microsegregation behavior of solute elements was also quantitatively estimated by an electron probe microanalysis on a sample quenched during directional solidification of primary γ with the planar solid/liquid interface. It was found that increasing the Re content gradually increases the microsegregation tendency of Re into the dendritic core and γ' forming elements, such as Al and Ta, into the interdendritic area. The strongest effect of Ru addition was found to be Re segregation. Increasing the Ru content up to 6 wt.% significantly alleviated the microsegregation of Re, which resulted in a decrease of Re accumulation in the dendritic core. The influence of Ru on the microstructural stability toward the topologically close-packed phase formation was discussed based on Scheil type calculations with experimentally determined microsegregation results.