Changes in the properties of superalloys by long term heating

A laboratory study was conducted in order to determine the effect of long term heating (max. 10000h at 8500 and 9500C) on the microstructure, tensile properties, hardness and stress rupture properties of four kinds of superalloys. These superalloys are two kinds of solid solution hardened Ni-base superalloys Hastelloy X and Inconel 617 and two kinds of dispersion strengthened Ni-base superalloys TD-Ni and TD-NiCr. The result of the study can be summarized as follows: (1) Solid solution hardened superalloys: Many precipitates were observed in the grains and on the grain boundaries after 100 hours of heating, and the precipitates became coarse-grained by over 1000 hours of heating. This tendency was remarkable when they were heated at 9500C. With the change of their microstructure, their mechanical properties also changed, particularly their tensile ductility decreased remarkably. (2) Dispersion strengthened superalloys: Their microstructure and mechanical properties were almost unchanged by long term heating. (3) The authors proposed ''solid solution hardening value'' in order to grasp quantitatively the solid solution hardening which has been discussed by the content of each element hitherto. (auth.)