Effect of Overheating Temperature on Thermal Cycling Creep Properties of K465 Superalloy

Abstract

Turbine blades in aircraft engines may encounter overheating and suffer serious creep property degradation. In this study, the thermal cycling creep experiments were conducted on K465 superalloy under (900 °C/30 min–1100 °C/3 min)/50 MPa, (900 °C/30 min–1150 °C/3 min)/50 MPa and (1000 °C/30 min–1150 °C/3 min)/50 MPa. The investigated thermal cycling creep properties were dramatically degraded, and increasing the overheating temperatures significantly decreased the thermal cycling creep life. The secondary γ′ precipitates obviously dissolved and the area fraction decreased to around 35.2% under (900 °C/30 min–1150 °C/3 min)/50 MPa and (1000 °C/30 min–1150 °C/3 min)/50 MPa, which was almost half that after the standard solution treatment. The decline of the thermal cycling creep properties was mainly due to the significant dissolution of γ′ precipitates. The creep holes/cracks were mainly distributed at the M6C carbides and γ/γ′ eutectics interfaces, M6C carbides and γ′ film interfaces in the grain boundaries, and resulted in the final intergranular fracture.