Grain selection during casting Ni-base, single-crystal superalloys with spiral grain selector

The behavior of grain selection in a spiral grain selector during investment casting of a Ni-base, single-crystal (SX) superalloy, DD3, has been investigated by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) techniques and optical microscopy. The results indicated that the main function of starter block is to optimize the crystal orientation. During the process of grain selection in spiral passage, the grain near the inner wall of spiral passage was usually selected as the final single crystal. It was found that the dendrites near the inner wall could develop new tertiary dendritic arms that paralleled the primary dendrites from the secondary dendritic arms to overgrow the dendrites far away from the inner wall. The crystal orientation that was examined by X-ray diffraction revealed that (1) the crystal orientation did not change obviously with increasing spiral thickness or angle and (2) the crystal orientation could be optimized by increasing the withdrawal rate and ceramic mold temperature. The influence of pouring temperature on crystal orientation was also discussed.