Iridium (Ir) has an extremely high melting point (2443 °C), high chemical stability and is one of the most promising high-temperature materials. However, Ir is more difficult to process compared with other face-centered cubic metals, such as Ni and Al, which limits its applications. To solve this problem, we study the effect of 32 alloying elements (X) on stacking fault energy of dilute Ir-based alloys generated by shear deformation using the first-principles calculations. The investigation reveals that there are many alloying elements studied herein decrease the stacking fault energy of face-centered cubic (fcc) Ir, and the most effective element in reducing stacking fault energy of fcc Ir is Zn. The microscopic mechanism is caused by electron redistribution in the local stacking fault area. These results are expected to provide valuable guidance for the further design and application of Ir-based alloys.

The effects of boron and zirconium contents from 0 to 0.049 wt% on the casting fluidity, as-cast microstructure and mechanical properties of IN718C superalloy are systematically investigated. The results show that as the B or Zr content increases, the fluidity firstly increases and then decreases. The optimum fluidity is obtained at the pouring temperature of 1470 °C when the content of B is 0.0059 wt% or Zr is 0.042 wt%, respectively. The addition of Zr can lead to the formation of blocky laves phase, but B has no influence on microstructure morphology. Furthermore, the addition of B or Zr can effectively improve the tensile and stress life properties as well as casting fluidity of IN718C superalloy. As compared with IN718C master alloys, the tensile strength can increase 6.2–8.6% and stress life can be improved by 1.3 times when B content is 0.0059 wt%. In addition, when the alloy contains 0.042 wt% Zr, the tensile strength can increase 5.6–7% and stress life can increase 1.076 times than that of the master alloy.

In the paper, we focus on atom diffusion behavior in Ni-based superalloys, which have important applications in the aero-industry. Specifically, the expressions of the key physical parameter – transition rate (jump rate) in the diffusion can be given from the diffusion theory in solids and the kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) method, respectively. The transition rate controls the diffusion process and is directly related to the energy of vacancy formation and the energy of migration of atom from density functional theory (DFT). Moreover, from the KMC calculations, the diffusion coefficients for Ni and Al atoms in the γ phase (Ni matrix) and the γʹ phase (intermetallic compound Ni3Al) of the superalloy have been obtained. We propose a strategy of time stepping to deal with the multi-time scale issues. In addition, the influence of temperature and Al concentration on diffusion in dilute alloys is also reported.

The strain hardening effect and dynamic recovery behavior of a Ni-based superalloy are studied by isothermal compressive tests. A new unified dislocation-density based constitutive model is developed to characterize the strain hardening effect and dynamic recovery behavior of the studied superalloy. In the developed constitutive model, some material parameters (yield stress, strain hardening coefficient, and dynamic recovery coefficient) are assumed as functions of initial grain size, deformation temperature, and strain rate. An iterative algorithm is designed to predict the high-temperature deformation behaviors under time-variant hot working conditions. The hot deformation parameters and material parameters can be updated in each strain increment. Comparisons between the experimental and calculated flow stresses indicate that the developed constitutive model can accurately describe the high-temperature deformation behavior of the studied superalloy. Furthermore, the developed constitutive model is also successfully used for analyzing time-variant hot working processes.

The dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior of Ni–18.3Cr–6.4Co–5.9W–4Mo–2.19Al–1.16Ti superalloy was investigated by means of isothermal compression tests in the temperature range of 1010–1160 °C and strain rate range of 0.001–1 s−1. It was found that the nucleation mechanisms of discontinuous DRX and continuous DRX (CDRX) occurred simultaneously during hot deformation, and twinning can play an important role in improving the process of DRX. There are three stages in the process of CDRX, i.e., the accumulation and rearrangement of dislocations, the formation of subgrain boundary, and the conversion to high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) from subgrain boundary. Moreover, the effect of CDRX grows weaker with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate. Additionally, both the volume fraction of DRX grains and the DRX grain size were closely related to the deformation temperature and strain rate, and a power exponent relationship between the DRX grain size and Z parameter was obtained. Based on the experimental data, the kinetic equations were also developed to evaluate the volume fraction of DRX grains during hot deformation in the alloy.

Udimet 188 was subjected to thermomechanical processing (TMP) in an attempt to understand the effects of cold-rolling deformation on the microstructure and tensile-creep behavior. Commercially available sheet was cold rolled to varying amounts of deformation (between 5–35% reduction in sheet thickness) followed by a solution treatment at 1,464 K (1,191°C) for 1 h and subsequent air cooling. This sequence was repeated four times to induce a high-volume fraction of low-energy grain boundaries. The resultant microstructure was characterized using electron backscattered diffraction. The effect of the TMP treatment on the high-temperature [1,033–1,088 K (760–815°C)] creep behavior was evaluated. The measured creep stress exponents (6.0–6.8) suggested that dislocation creep was dominant at 1,033 K (760°C) for stresses ranging between 100–220 MPa. For stresses ranging between 25–100 MPa at 1,033 K (760°C), the stress exponents (2.3–2.8) suggested grain boundary sliding was dominant. A significant amount of grain boundary cracking was observed both on the surface and subsurface of deformed samples. To assess the mechanisms of crack nucleation, in situ scanning electron microscopy was performed during the elevated-temperature tensile-creep deformation. Cracking occurred preferentially along general high-angle grain boundaries (GHAB) and less than 25% of the cracks were found on low-angle grain boundaries (LAB) and coincident site lattice boundaries (CSLB). Creep rupture experiments were performed at T = 1,088 K (815°C) and σ = 165 MPa and the greatest average time-to-rupture was exhibited by the TMP sheet with the greatest fraction of LAB+CSLB. However, a clear correlation was not exhibited between the grain boundary character distribution and the minimum creep rates. The findings of this work suggest that although grain boundary engineering may be possible for this alloy, simply relating the fraction of grain boundary types to the creep resistance is not sufficient.

Nanostructural features of nickel-base superalloys as revealed by atom probe field ion microscopy (APFIM) and atom probe tomography (APT) are reviewed. The more salient information provided by these techniques is discussed through an almost exhaustive analysis of literature over the last 30 years. Atom probe techniques are shown to be able to measure the composition of tiny γ′ precipitates, a few nanometers in size, and to reveal chemical order within these precipitates. Phase separation kinetics in model NiCrAl alloys was investigated with both 3DAP and Monte-Carlo simulation. Results are shown to be in good agreement. Plane by plane analysis of {001} planes of Ni3Al-type γ′ phase makes it possible to estimate the degree of order as well as the preferential sites of various addition elements (Ti, Cr, Co, W, Ta, Re, Ru, etc.) included in superalloys. Clustering effects of Re in the γ solid solution were also exhibited. Due to its ultrahigh depth resolution, the microchemistry of interfaces and grain boundaries can be characterized on an atomic scale. Grain boundaries in Astroloy or N18 superalloys were found to be enriched in B, Mo, and Cr and Al depleted.