Modeling of precipitation kinetics of TCP-phases in single crystal nickel-base superalloys

Abstract

The precipitation of brittle so-called TCP-phases is critical for the application of Recontaining single crystal superalloys. In this work a fully multicomponent precipitation model is presented, which is capable of simulating the precipitation process of the TCP-phases in superalloys considering complex precipitation sequences with several metastable phases. The model is coupled to multicomponent thermodynamic CALPHAD calculations and relies on multicomponent diffusion models based on the TC-API interface of the software DICTRA. The required mobility database has been newly developed and covers all relevant alloying elements of the Ni-base superalloys including rhenium (Re) and ruthenium (Ru). It is well known that adding Ru strongly reduces TCP-phase precipitation. Based on the developed precipitation model, possible mechanisms are investigated to explain this effect and it is concluded that Ru mostly influences the nucleation rate by a combined influence on interface energy, "reverse partitioning" and ?'-phase fraction. © (2011) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.