DS Microstructure Control

in CM 247LC Superalloy

BM. Chang

Korea Lost-Wax Co., Ltd.

KOREA

Korea Power Industry Conference 2009 (KPIC2009)

Seoul, Korea
Dec. 2nd~3rd, 2009

1
Objectives
Study about DS parameters for turbine blade in
CM247LC alloy

DS trials with several PARAs;

● Velocities 1-300 µm/s,
o
● Thermal gradient 3-17 C/mm.

The MS map in the G and V including status of

● planar/dendritic condition

● columnar/equiaxed condition

Set-up DS casting process optimized.

Completed the project for large sized turbine blade.

2
Solidification Microstructure Map

Planar
●
Planar / Columnar : G/R = ∆T / D
grains
●
Thermal Gradient (G)

●
Columnar
Equiaxed / Columnar : Gs/R = Lρ /
grains Ks

Equiaxed
grains

Withdrawal rate (R)

D/S and S/X process window forms in the columnar grains region
D/S and S/X to be formed at higher V and G conditions

3
Alloy CM247LC material
Developed for D/S superalloy by reducing Carbon %
Modified from M-M-247 to improve
● Carbide Stability
● Ductility
● Grain boundary Resistance
● Castability
One of the most widely used in D/S superalloys.
Grain boundary strengthened with Hf.
It may cause micro-shrinkage and mold-reaction.
Composition
Element C Co Cr Al Ti Ta Mo W Zr B Hf Ni
CM247LC 0.07 9.5 8.0 5.5 0.7 3.3 0.5 9.4 0.02 0.016 1.4 bal.
4
Large Size Turbine Blade
Casting Technologies

Grains narrow and straight.

- understanding cooling effect.

Fine and well distributed dendrites.

- understanding shape and metal-
mass and shape changes.

Superalloy-feature

Segregation control
- Micro-shrinkage and dross
- Reaction with shell and core
5
 Directional Solidification Experiments
Modified Bridgman
Withdrawal
Chamber

Furnace
• Alumina tube : 5mm ID x 8mm OD
Super Liquid
Kanthal • Solidification rate : 1-350 ㎛/s
Alumina
Tube • Preserve the S/L interface by water quenching
Insulation
• Cooling jacket used
Water-
Solid

cooled • Thermal gradient : 3 - 17 oC/mm by

chamber ▶ cooling jacket-move
▶ furnace temperature-change
Fixed
Specimen

Estimate optimum parameters for D/S blade thru

microstructure analysis and DAS with G&V. 6
S&L interface morphologies with V
G=17.1oC/mm
1㎛/s 5㎛/s

500㎛ 500㎛

50㎛/s 100㎛/s

500㎛ 500㎛

All attemps in getting sound dendrite by V-change

(the planar cellular coarse fine dendrites) 7
Cross View of D/S with V
G=17.1oC/mm
5㎛/s 50㎛/s

200µm 200µm

100㎛/s 200㎛/s

100µm 100µm

Per V-change, the DAS gets near together. 8

PDAS with Velocity and Gradient

Finer DAS with higher gradients and velocities.

G rather than V is mostly important to get dendrites good.
9
Dendrite Arm Space with Cooling Rate (GV)

λPDAS = KPDAS G-0.5 V-0.25

Dendrite spacings are governed by V and G.

The cooling capability can be estimated from DAS data.

10
Solidified structure map with V and G
3
10
G=17.1C /mm
G=13.1C /mm
G=11.1C /mm
Equiaxed

Solidification Rate (um /s)

2 G=10.5C /mm
10
G=5.7C /mm
G=4.5C /mm
G=3 C /mm
1
10

∆T=52.4oK
0
D =3.6x10-9 m2/s
10
∆H = 4118.4 cal/mol

G=3oC/mm
Ks =7.17 cal/m oK
V=300 µm/s 10
-1

Equiaxed 10
-1
10
0
10
1
10
2
10
3

Gradient ( C/mm )
G s ∆H G ∆T
Equiaxed condition < Planar condition <
V Ks V D
• Theoretically 1.2 ㎛/s V exhibits the planar. Instead, experimentally it was 1㎛/s.
• V calculated for DS-EQ was 34.5 ㎛/s. Instead, experimental value was 350㎛/s.
(Estimated some dynamic effect of dendrite-growth keeps on columnar growing.)
11
Carbide morphology per the cooling rate
G=17.1oC/mm
Carbide morphology, size, volume fraction with solidification rate and cooling rate
V (㎛/s) GV(oC/s) Carbide Morphology Avg. Size(㎛) Aspect Ratio Vol. Fraction
1 0.02 Blocky 13.8 1.4 0.18
5 0.1 Blocky 8.5 1.6 1.2
25 0.5 Script 6.3 2 2
50 1 Script 5.1 2.4 2.4
100 2 Script+Spotty 3.9 2.3 2.5
200 4 Script+Spotty 2.8 2.23 2.4

a) b) c)

As per V, the carbide sizes were decreased and the aspect ratio were
increased regularly.
Very close relation between DAS and carbide size with aspect ratio. 12
Carbide Morphology with V at 17.1oC/mm

1㎛/s
1 /s 5㎛/s 25㎛/s

50㎛/s 100㎛/s 200㎛/s

As increasing V, blocky -> script -> spotty 13

Hot issues in DS casting with Hf alloy

Mold reaction
XA1

Wt%, EDS
Point 1 : 49.96 Hf, 7.77 O, 1.89 Ta, 7.23 W, 3.16 Ni, 0.39 Cr.
Point 2 : 47.01 Hf, 13.75 O, 2.23 Ta, 2.78 W, 1.34 Ni, 0.20 Cr. 14
Difficulties in DS casting with Hf alloy

Micro-shrinkage caused by Hf segregation

among grain boundry and dendrites.
Hf

0.8㎜ O

0.76㎜ 15
x50
 • Al, Cr, Ta, Ti segregate and W, Co inverse segregation
• Measure Cs/Cl at the planar S/L interface of V 0.5 µm/s

0 0
6
16

a 6
o
T C
0 0
5 5
0 0 )
6 4 ) 0 4
7
. m
1
. m
0 m
1
=
m
(
= 0
(
Segregation in superalloy (i.e.,CM247LC)

k e
k 3
e
c
0
3 c
n
n a
a t
t s
s i
• Hf was segregated severely, as k=0.41

0 i 0 d
2 d 2
0 0
Co

1 1
Ta

0
0
C C
0
0 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0
0 .
. 5 .
0 .
5 .
0 .
5 .
0 .
5 .
0 . . . . . . . . . . .
2 1 1 0 0 9 9 8 8 7 7
6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
)
%
.
t
w
(
n
o
i
t
i
s
o
p
m
o
c
)
%
.
t
w
(
n
o
i
t
i
s
o
p
m
o
c

0 0
f 6 r 6
H C
0 0
5 5
0 ) 0 )
4 4
1 m 8 m
4 8
. m . m
( 0 (
0
= = 0 e
0 e k
k 3 c 3 c
n
n a
a t
t s
s i
i 0
0 2 d
2 d
0
0 1
Cr

1
Hf

0
0 C
C 0
0 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0
. . . . . . . . .
0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 0 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6
. . . . . . . . .
4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 1
)
%
.
t
w
(
n
o
t
i
s
o
p
m
o
c
)
%
.
t
w
(
n
o
i
t
i
s
o
p
m
o
c

0 i 0 0
l 6 T 6 6
A W
0 0
5
0
5 5
0 0
4 ) 22 0
4
)
7 4 )
7 m 66
. m 4
.
m
8
. m 00
. m
( 1 m
(
0 ( ==
k
= 0
= 0 e k 0 e k 3 e
k 3 c 3 c c
n
n n a
a a t
t t
s s 0 s
i
0 i 0
i
d 2 d
2 d 2
0
0 0 1
1 1

W
Al

Ti
0
0
0 C 0
C C
0. 5.
0.
5. 0.
5.
0. 5.
0.
5. 5.
0.0.
5.
0.
5.
0.
5.
0.
5.
0
0 5
0 .
0 5 0 5 0 5 0 . 0 5 0 544332211009988776655
. . . . . . . 1 . . . 11111111111
7 6 6 5 5 4 4 1 0 0

)
%
.
t
w
(
n
o
i
t
i
s
o
p
m
o
c
)
%
.
t
w
(
n
o
i
t
i
s
o
p
m
o
c
)
%
.
t
w
(
n
o
i
t
i
s
o
p
m
o
c
 Primary grain formation per cooling-efficiencies

1 2 3
SEM EBSD

4mm 4mm 4mm

Low cooling-efficiency created big size grains.

Primary grain sizes were different as per cooling-efficiencies.
17
Blade grain size per cooling-efficiencies

50
1
1 2 3 45 2
④ 40 3

Grain size (mm)

35

③ 30
25
20
15

② 10
5
0
① 1 2 3 4
View point

Primary grain size affects DS grain-growth severely upto the end.

Exhibits the primary grain should be fine and narrow.

18
Ceramic-core, thin/ long/ wide T/E

MOR at room temp. 6.5MPa

Cristobalite 12~25%
Pb/Bi less 5 / 1ppm

19
IGT turbine blade by KLW
1
4 1

3
2
B

85mm

200
200㎛

200㎛
20
Conclusions
DS experiments were carried out with
Parameters-change V ( 1~300㎛/s ) and G ( 3~17 oC/mm )
Ni-base superalloy CM247LC.
Analyzed the S&L interface and solidified microstructure.
Under too high G and low V, the planar interface formed.
Changing G to a little bit lower and V higher, the planar
interface was changed to dendritic thru cellular.
Under too high V and low G, the equiaxed grain also formed
from the columnar grain.
The microstructure map shows the planar/dendritic and
columnar/equiaxed condition, severely/directly affected
by G and V.
Theoretical planar condition was on same line with experimental
data. Instead, the theoretical columnar/equiaxed condition
exhibits a little bit different with the experimental data.
Estimated some dynamic effect of dendrite-growth keeps on
columnar growing.
21