Creep resistance improvement of a polycrystalline Ni-based superalloy via TiC particles reinforcement

Abstract

In order to develop highly efficient aircraft engines, the use of alloys for turbine blades that combine high creep resistance and lower density brings substantial benefits. That may be achieved by the introduction of a reinforcing phase, such as a discontinuous reinforcement. So far, most researched particle-reinforced Ni-based superalloys made use of sub-micrometer particles, such as oxides and borides, often produced by in-situ reactions. These are proposed solely as dislocation immobilizers, in a role comparable to that carried out by γ’ precipitates, while metal matrix composites (MMCs) containing micro-scale particles offer a load-transfer potential. To combine both approaches, a recently designed polycrystalline Ni-based γ’-strengthened superalloy reinforced with TiC particles was produced by low energy mixing of powders, followed by pressure sintering. The composite, along with a non-reinforced reference, was submitted to compression creep tests at 973 K (700 °C), with stresses varying from 280 to 500 MPa. Selected specimens had their microstructure evaluated with techniques such as EBSD and XRD. When simulating a working turbine, the material density influences directly the centripetal forces acting on a section of a turbine blade, and consequently the creep rates. In the proposed composite, not only an increase in the threshold stress by a load-transfer component was obtained, but also the density reduction affected remarkably the creep rates. Moreover, the presented MMC not only presented a superior creep resistance in relation to the non-reinforced alloy, but also exhibited higher stability of primary and secondary γ’ volumes after 500 h in creep tests.