Strain induced recrystallization in hot forged inconel 718 alloy

Abstract

Changes in the microstructure of Inconel 718 resulting from hot forging were investigated in this work. Axisymmetrical forging characterized by the areas of different forging reduction ratios was subjected to the analysis. The investigated alloy was forged under various thermomechanical conditions. Two forging modes, differing by the geometry and the temperature of the billet were performed in industrial conditions. It was revealed, that the microstructure of the alloy after forging was in the solutionized condition with different levels of recrystallization determining the differences in the grain size. Moreover, numerous simulations of the analyzed forging process taking into account variable thermomechanical conditions were performed using QForm 3D v. 5.1 software. The results of the simulations were compared with the results of forging the investigated alloy in industrial conditions. These results showed to be in very good agreement with the experimental observations. The changes in the microstructure of the investigated alloy forging were also compared with the results of the performed simulations. This study allowed determining both the influence of chosen thermomechanical parameters on recrystallization process in hot forged Inconel 718 alloy as well as the possibility of obtaining good quality forgings with uniform microstructure out of this alloy.