On the influence of grain morphology on creep deformation and damage mechanisms in directionally solidified and oxide dispersion strengthened superalloys

Abstract

Directionally solidified (DS) and oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) superalloys like CM 247 LC and MA 760 exhibit elongated macrograins. In uniaxial creep tests, the creep strength of such alloys in the direction of the longitudinal grains is higher than that of an equiaxed grain structure, because significantly less grain boundary (GB) segments are perpendicular to the axis of the applied stress. The present study investigates how creep in the longitudinal direction of these alloys is influenced (1) by deviations of individual grain orientations from the optimum growth direction during casting (CM 247 LC) and (2) by the spatial distribution of the small transverse GB segments (MA 760) for a given grain aspect ratio. In the case of creep ductile CM 247 LC, it was shown that if there is a large fraction of grains that are oriented for single slip, this results in higher creep rates and lower rupture times than if there is only a small fraction of such grains. The study of the influence of grain morphology on creep damage accumulation in the creep-brittle and notch-sensitive ODS alloy MA 760 showed that large scatter in creep rupture lives is related to (1) the stochastic nature of creep damage accumulation on transverse GB segments and (2) the spatial distribution of transverse GB segments. It is the combination of these two factors that results in increased scatter in rupture lives as compared to equiaxed fine grain structures.