Directional coarsening in single crystal nickel based superalloys: a simulation

A 3D computer simulation has been developed to study kinetic and morphologies in directional coarsening of single crystal nickel based superalloy. The driving force for this phenomenon is related to the internal streses, including coherency stresses and partition of the applied stress between the two phases of nickel based superalloy. The model takes into account the various contributions to the driving force: the plastic flow and the diffusional flow. Results of the simulation are in good agreement with experimental observations of morphologies versus the applied stress and after different creep times. (orig.)