Effects of microstructure and lattice misfit on creep life of Ni-based single crystal superalloy during long-term thermal exposure

According to the microstructural evolution during longterm thermal exposure at 1100 °C, the creep rupture life of Ni-based single crystal superalloys at 980 °C/270 MPa was evaluated. The microstructure was characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and related image processing methods. The size of γ' precipitates and the precipitation amount of topologically close-packed increased with the increase in thermal exposure time, and coarsening of the γ' precipitates led to the simultaneous increase of the matrix channel width. The relationship between the creep rupture life and the lattice misfit of γ/γ', the coarsening of γ' precipitate and the precipitation of TCP phase are systematically discussed. In addition, according to the correlation between γ' phase evolution and creep characteristics during thermal exposure, a physical model is established to predict the remaining creep life.