Microstructure Evolution during Supersolvus Heat Treatment of a Powder Metallurgy Nickel-Base Superalloy

Microstructure evolution during the supersolvus heat treatment of a powder-metallurgy, low-solvus, high-refractory (LSHR) superalloy was established. For this purpose, three lots of LSHR with varying initial carbon/boron composition and thermomechanical history were subjected to a series of short-time (induction) and long-time (furnace) heat treatments followed by scanning electron microscopy/electron backscatter diffraction and quantitative metallography. The size of the (pinned) gamma grains exhibited a limited dependence on heating rate and soak time at peak temperature, and it was generally smaller than the predictions based on the classic Smith-Zener model. The differences were rationalized in terms of stereological and pinning-particle location effects. Observations of limited coarsening of the carbide/boride pinning particles were interpreted in the context of prior experimental observations and a modified Lifshitz-Slyosov-Wagner model applied previously for the coarsening of compound phases in steels.