Verification of a Commercial CALPHAD Database for Re and Ru Containing Nickel-Base Superalloys

Abstract

The addition of rhenium and ruthenium to single crystal nickel-base superalloys improves the high-temperature properties of the alloys. In this work the applicability of the database TTNi7 (ThermoTech Ltd, UK) for developing 4th generation single crystal superalloys containing rhenium (Re) and ruthenium (Ru) was investigated. We systematically compared experimentally determined alloy properties to the predictions of ThermoCalc with the database TTNi7. The investigated properties were liquidus, solidus and γ´ solvus temperature as well as incipient melting point and segregation. Calculations were based on thermodynamic principles with the assumption of either equilibrium or Scheil-Gulliver conditions, i.e. no diffusion in the solid and complete diffusion in the liquid. Furthermore the composition of the γ and the γ′ phase of a Re- and Ru-containing superalloy was measured and compared to calculations. Our results show that the database is capable of simulating general trends of 4th generation superalloys up to 6 weight percent (wt.-%) Re and 6 wt.-% Ru. The present work shows that Scheil-Gulliver calculations can only be used as a first approximation for nickel-base superalloys.