Study of grain refinement and eutectic transformation of undercooled IN718 superalloy

A substantial undercooling up to 250 K was produced in the IN718 superalloy melt by employing the method of molten salt denucleating, and the microstructure evolution with undercooling was investigated. Within the achieved undercooling, 0-250 K, the solidification microstructure of IN718 undergoes two grain refinements: the first grain refinement occurs in a lower range of undercooling, which results from the ripening and remelting of the primary dendrite, and at a larger range of undercooling, grain refinement attributes to solidification shrinkage stress and lattice distortion energy originating from the rapid solidification process. A 'lamellar eutectic anomalous eutectic' transition was observed when undercooling exceeds a critical value of similar to 250 K. When undercooling is small, owing to niobium enrichment in interdendrite, the remaining liquid solidifies as eutectic (gamma + Laves phase); whereas, if the undercooling achieves 250 K, the interdendrite transforms from eutectic (gamma + Laves phase) to Laves phase, which results from the formation of divorced eutectic arising from the huge variance of the growth velocities of gamma and Laves phases.