ICME Design of a Castable, Creep-Resistant, Single-Crystal Turbine Alloy

To improve the efficiency of advanced power systems, integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) tools are being developed at QuesTek Innovations LLC for the design of high-performance alloys for gas turbine. In this article, we detail progress on the design of a low-Re, castable, creep-resistant, single-crystal Ni-based superalloy (QTSX). CALPHAD-based indicators for castability (liquid buoyancy) and creep resistance (γ′ coarsening rate constant) were simultaneously employed to predict an optimum alloy composition. Component-level QTSX trail castings have been fabricated, and characterization of the castings has demonstrated freckle-free solidification and creep resistance comparable to CMSX4 and ReneN5, which validates this accelerated ICME approach.