A BRIEF STUDY ON NICKEL

BASED SUPERALLOYS
PRESENTED BY ,
i) D.PREM MADHUR (14/MM/63)
ii) VANDAN RAJ (14/MM/64)
iii) MAINAK SAHA (14/MM/65)
iv) POOJA MAURYA (14/MM/66)
v) RAJDEEP BANIK (14/MM/67)
vi) SOURAJIT PRAMANIK (14/MM/68)

SUPERVISED BY : DR. MANAB MALLIK

DEPARTMENT OF METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DURGAPUR

 CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION TO SUPERALLOYS
• NICKEL BASED SUPERALLOYS
• PROCESSING OF SUPERALLOYS
• PROPERTIES & MICROSTRUCTURE
• STRENGTHENING MECHANISMS
• APPLICATIONS
 INTRODUCTION :
 A Superalloy is an alloy which can be used at high temperatures, often in excess of 0.7 of the
absolute melting temperature (Tm).
 A Superalloy or high-performance alloy exhibits several key characteristics such as:
1. Excellent mechanical strength
2. Resistance to thermal creep deformation
3. Good surface stability
4. Resistance to corrosion or oxidation
5. High fracture toughness
6. High fatigue resistance.
Examples: Haste alloy, Inconel, Waspalloy, Rene alloys, Haynes alloys, Incoloy, etc.
 Why Superalloys?
Initially Austenitic Stainless Steels were used for high temperature applications. But working in the
range of 450ºC-850ºC , sensitisation occurs due to depletion of Chromium in the grain boundary
region which makes it susceptible to cracking. So Superalloys were developed.
 There are three types of Superalloys on the basis of the predominant elements present in the alloy.

Ni-Based Fe-Ni-Based
Superalloys Superalloys

Co-Based
Superalloys
 General Composition:

Ni-BASED SUPERALLOYS :
Composition : 38-76% Ni, up to 27% Cr, up to 20% Co.
Example : Nimonic, Inconel, Waspalloy.

Fe-Ni-BASED SUPERALLOYS:
Composition : 32-67% Fe, 9-38% Ni, 15-22% Cr .
Example : Incoloy series

Co-BASED SUPERALLOYS:
Composition : 30-65% Co, 19-30% Cr, up to 35% Ni .
 Ni-BASED SUPERALLOYS :

Ni-based superalloys are more strong and have more corrosion resistance.
They are the most commonly used superalloys generally used above
500ºC in oxidising and corrosive environment. Example: Turbine Blades.

 Why is Ni used as a matrix for superalloys ?

1) Due to FCC structure it provides good ductility

2) It has low linear thermal coefficient of expansion (13x10-6 /ºC at 20ºC)
3) Low volume thermal coefficient of expansion (39x10-6 /ºC at 20ºC)
4) Ni-matrix does not undergo phase transformation up to Tm
• The Ni-based superalloys contain high Cr with Ti, Al to form precipitates and
additions of Mo, Co, Fe, C etc.
• On the basis of variation of additional alloying elements Ni-based superalloys
are generally of three types :
i) Inconel
Composition: 15% Cr - 6.75% Fe - 2.5% Ti - 0.8% Al - 0.85% Co
ii) Nimonic
Composition: 20% Cr - 18% Co - 2.5% Ti - 1.5% Al - 0.05% C
iii) Waspalloy
Composition: 19.5% Cr - 13.5% Co - 2% Fe - 4.25% Mo - 1.3% Al - 3% Ti - 0.1% C
 PROCESSING OF SUPERALLOYS
There are many forms of superalloy present within a gas turbine engine, and the
processing methods vary widely depending on the necessary properties of each
specific part. Some of them are:

 Casting and Forging

 Powder Metallurgy
 Directional Solidification
 Single Crystal Growth
 Conventional Casting: Initially the Superalloys were produced through conventional casting
process. But superalloys having high alloying elements, ingot casting caused a high amount of
shrinkage along with blowholes, porosities etc. and also had dendritic structure. Vacuum melting
process is used to remove the blowholes and gas porosities, specifically oxygen. Dendritic
structure and shrinkage is eliminated by deformation by rolling or forging. Here
thermomechanical treatment gives uniform deformation of phases but still causes segregation in
weaker regions. So they have short service life.

 Powder Metallurgy: This is a class of modern processing techniques in which metals are first
converted into a powder form, compacted and then formed into the desired shape by sintering
below the melting point. This is in contrast to casting, which occurs with molten metal.
Superalloy manufacturing often employs powder metallurgy because of its material efficiency -
typically much less waste metal must be machined away from the final product—and its ability
to facilitate mechanical alloying. But it also facilitates higher cost of production.
 Directional solidification: This process uses a thermal gradient to promote nucleation of
metal grains on a low temperature surface, as well as to promote their growth along the
temperature gradient. This leads to grains elongated along the temperature gradient, and
significantly greater creep resistance parallel to the long grain direction.

 Single Crystal Growth: In this process, a single

crystal is manufactured by removing all the grain
boundaries resulting in a sharp increase in
strength and creep properties. Single crystal
growth starts with a seed crystal which is used to
template growth of a larger crystal. This involves
highly controlled and therefore relatively slow
crystallization. They have long service life.
 Fig: Showing variation of Creep rate with Time for differently cast Superalloys. Single
Crystal gives more creep life, hence can work for prolonged time compared to Directionally
Solidified and Conventionally Cast Superalloys
 PROPERTIES & MICROSTRUCTURE :
γ-PHASE
The continuous matrix is a FCC Ni-based austenitic phase
(γ-phase) that usually contains a high percentage of solid-
solution elements such as Co, Cr, Mo and W.

γ'-PHASE
The primary strengthening phase in Ni-based
superalloys is Ni3(Al, Ti) or the γ'-phase. It is a
coherently precipitating phase (i.e., the crystal planes
of the precipitate are in registry with the γ-matrix)
with an ordered FCC crystal structure.
 Ni-9.7 Al-1.7 Ti-17.1 Cr-6.3 Co-2.3 W (TEM Imaging)
Transmission Electron micrograph showing cuboidal
γ' (Ni3(Al,Ti)) (FCC-L12) precipitate in γ (FCC)
(A1)matrix.
There are also the carbide formers (Cr, W, and Ti)
present.
• The carbides tend to precipitate at grain
boundaries and hence reduce the tendency for
grain boundary sliding.
• Cobalt, iron, chromium, niobium, tantalum,
molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, titanium and
aluminium are also solid-solution strengtheners,
both in γ and γ'.
• Cr, Co, here, partitions into γ whereas Ti
partitions into γ'. W may partition both into γ and
γ'.
• Dislocations in γ find it difficult to penetrate into
atomically ordered γ' and leads to strengthening.
 Ni-9.7 Al-1.7 Ti-17.1 Cr-6.3 Co-2.3 W (SADP)

(1 3 1) [1 1 4]

(1 1 0)

(3 1 1)

Fig: SADP of [1 1 4] zone axis with (110) and (110) –

superlattice (γ‘) reflections and {131}, {220}- γ reflections
 STRENGTHENING MECHANISMS :

There are three prior strengthening mechanisms for Ni-based superalloys ;

 Solid Solution Hardening

 Coherent Precipitate Hardening

 Hardening by Carbide precipitation on grain

boundaries
 Solid Solution Strengthening:
Cr, Mo, Al, Nb, Ti and other alloying elements go to the solution and replace the solvent
atoms in their lattice positions. So local stress fields are formed that interact with those of
the dislocations, impeding their motion and causing an increase in the yield stress of the
material, which means an increase in strength of the material.

 Precipitation Strengthening:
It happens mostly due to Al & Ti, when they form γ' or Ni3(Al,Ti) with the solvent atoms. This
γ' phase impede the movement of dislocations and defects in a crystal lattice which leads to
increase of strength.

 Hardening by Carbide Precipitates:

Presence of carbide precipitates (like M23C6, M6C or MC) which are hard and brittle in nature
causes strengthening of superalloys.

 Oxide dispersion strengthening is another method of strengthening in which Yttrium oxides

are dispersed on the matrix making the material suitable for high temperature applications.
 Effect of Alloying Elements :

Fig: Alloying element effects in Nickel based superalloys.

Fig: Variation of Yield Stress with Temperature for different
Ni-based superalloys
 APPLICTIONS :
Ni-based superalloys are widely used in load bearing structures to the highest homologous
temperature 0.9 Tm

Superalloys are used in,

Aerospace
 Turbine Blades and Jet/Rocket engines
 Marine Industry
 Submarines
 Nuclear Reactors
 Heat Exchanger Tubing
 Industrial Gas Turbines and Combustion Engine Valves
 Petrochemical Equipments
 Hot working Tooling and Dies
 Fig. Jet Engines

Fig. Turbine Blades

Fig. Rocket Engine
Fig. Gas Turbine for marine
propulsion

Fig. Gas Turbine for Thermal power plant