Dendrite refining and eutectic transformation behavior of Nickel-Base Single Crystal (NBSC) superalloy

Because of the low temperature gradient and growth rate, the microstructure of the conventional single crystal superalloy made by HRS processing is coarse dendrite with well developed sidebranches and has serious segregation. With the help of the high temperature gradient directional solidification equipment (HGDS), the solidification cooling rate is greatly increased. Study on microstructure of the Ni-base single crystal superalloy solidified at much higher cooling rate shows that the dendrite arm spacing is highly refined, of which the primary dendrite arm spacing can be made to be 38μm, just as 1/10 as that by conventional HRS processing. With the increase of the cooling rate, the amount of the eutectic increases and then decreases. In the superfine columnar dendrite, the amount of γ/γ′ eutectic is much fewer and its size is very small. This is useful to homogenize the microsegregation and improve the property of the material.