Nickel‐Based Superalloys for Blade Application: Production, Performance and Application

Abstract

Abstract The continuing drive for improvements in the performance, operating temperatures, and emissions in advanced aircraft engines has driven the development of nickel‐based superalloys for decades. Nickel base superalloys are an unusual class of metallic materials with an exceptional combination of high temperature strength, toughness, and resistance to degradation in corrosive or oxidizing environments. Their performance in severe combustion and chemical environments materials has led to their widespread use in aircraft and power generation turbines, rocket engines, nuclear power plant components, marine engines, and a variety of chemical processing operations. Intensive alloy and process development activities over the past few decades have resulted in single crystal Ni‐based superalloys that can tolerate average temperatures of 1050°C with occasional excursions (or local hot spots near airfoil tips) to temperatures as high as 1200°C which is ∼90% of the melting point of the material. The fundamental aspects of the composition and structure that result in these exceptional properties are briefly reviewed. Single crystal Ni‐superalloys that are utilized in gas turbine engines and the advanced manufacturing processes used for their production are outlined along with characteristic mechanical and physical properties.