Low-temperature superplastic deformation of EK61 and EP975 wrought nickel-based superalloys with an ultrafine-grained structure

Abstract

It is shown that thermomechanical treatment (TMT) of the EK61 superalloy with a strain rate (ε∙) of 10−3 s−1 and a gradual decrease in the treatment temperature from (0.92 – 0.65)Tδ leads to the transformation of the initial coarse-grained structure into an ultrafine-grained (UFG) mixed type structure. Such a mixed UFG microstructure consists of γ-phase grains and δ-phase particles 0.3 μm in size and relatively large particles of the δ-phase up to 2 μm in size. The EK61 superalloy having such a microstructure exhibits low-temperature superplasticity in the temperature range of 700 – 900°C, the maximum characteristics of which are achieved at 850°C and ε∙ =10−3 s−1. Low-temperature TMT in the temperature range of (0.84 – 0.8)Тγ' also leads to the formation of an UFG structure in the EP975 superalloy. The UFG microstructure of the EP975 superalloy consists of γ-phase grains and γ'-phase particles 0.5 μm in size. And there are relatively large particles of the γ'-phase up to 3.5 μm in size of a globular-shaped form. The EP975 superalloy with such a structure exhibits low-temperature superplasticity in the temperature range of 900 –1000°C, the maximum characteristics of which are achieved at 1000°C and ε∙ =10−3 s−1.