On the development of a new pre-weld thermal treatment procedure for preventing heat-affected zone (HAZ) liquation cracking in nickel-base IN 738 superalloy

Abstract

Hot cracking in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of precipitation strengthened nickel-base superalloys, such as IN 738, during fusion welding remains a major factor limiting reparability of nickel-base gas turbine components. The problem of HAZ intergranular cracking can be addressed by modifying the microstructure of the pre-weld material through thermal treatment, which requires significant understanding of the critical factors controlling cracking behaviour. The decomposition of Mo-Cr-W-and Cr-rich borides in the alloy, among other factors, has been observed to contribute significantly to non-equilibrium intergranular liquation and, hence, intergranular liquation cracking during welding. Gleeble physical simulation of HAZ microstructure has also shown that non-equilibrium liquation is more severe in the vicinity of decomposed borides in the alloy and can occur at temperatures as low as 1,150 °C. Although currently existing pre-weld heat treatments for IN 738 superalloy minimize the contributions of dissolution of second phases, including borides, to HAZ intergranular liquation, these heat treatments are not industrially feasible due to process-related difficulties. Therefore, a new industrially feasible and effective pre-weld thermal treatment process, designated as FUMT, was developed during the present research by controlling both the formation of borides and the segregation of boron at the grain boundaries in the pre-weld heat-treated material. This thermal treatment was observed to very significantly reduce intergranular HAZ cracking in welded IN 738 superalloy. The details of the development process and developed procedure are presented in this paper.