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The microsegregation in single-crystal nickel-base superalloys, which may result in many undesired precipitated phases, can be effectively reduced by rapid solidification. A new microsegregation model for rapid solidification multicomponent alloys was developed in this paper to predict the microsegregation in the single-crystal superalloys of laser rapid directional solidification and study the influence of processing parameters on the microsegregation behavior. To verify the predicted accuracy of the present model, the concentration profiles and microsegregation ranges under different processing conditions were examined and compared with those calculated by different models. Compared with previous models, this multicomponent model not only has definite physical meaning but also takes nonequilibrium solidification and dendritic tip undercooling into account. Therefore, it is suitable for a wide range of solidification conditions and can obtain better predicted results for complex multicomponent alloys. Moreover, although the microsegregation behavior depends primarily on the solidification velocity, a high temperature gradient also contributes to reducing the microsegregation. Consequently, the microsegregation can be effectively controlled by using a set of processing parameters that can obtain high temperature gradient and solidification velocity. Such a model contributes to the control of the microsegregation while determining relevant processing windows for the preparation of superalloy components using a controlled single-crystal laser processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fatigue properties of the Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-l.5Zr-0.3Si alloy produced by direct laser deposition (DLD) have been investigated. The fatigue limit of the alloy perpendicular to and parallel to the deposition direction at specified life of 10 7 and stress ration of 0.1 is 337 MPa and 365 MPa, respectively. The porosities of specimens are among 0.014–0.028%, averaged porosity is 0.02%. The fatigue cracks initiate at the pores near the surface, which are located mostly at the column grain boundary during solidification. The size of pore and its distance from the surface are two important factors to control the fatigue life of specimen, i.e., bigger the pore or nearer to the surface, shorter the fatigue life. The fatigue fracture consists of fatigue source, radial slow crack growth and rough fast fracture region. The columnar grains boundaries of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-l.5Zr-0.3Si alloy by epitaxial growth from the underlying template grains layer-by-layer during direct laser deposition are the weak joints under the cyclic stress and crack formed propagates preferentially along the grain boundaries, which should be a key factor leading to the difference of fracture morphology in the region of fatigue source and final fast fracture, and also the lower fatigue limit of specimen perpendicular to the deposition direction than that parallel to the deposition direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The control of solidification microstructure is critical to successful laser processing of single-crystal (SX) nickel-base superalloys and a practical tool for the microstructural control is processing–microstructure maps. However, the maps presented in literature do not consider the effects of powder feeding during laser additive manufacturing (LAM) of SX superalloys. This paper therefore presents a simple and feasible strategy to deal with the effects of powder feeding and to extend the combined numerical model used to calculate processing–microstructure maps. A characteristic ratio of epitaxial SX growth was defined to quantitatively compare the final solidification microstructure. Resulting processing–microstructure maps can estimate the influence of most processing variables, especially powder feeding rate, on the extent of epitaxial SX growth and the position of columnar-to-equiaxed transition. Using the processing parameters selected according to these processing–microstructure maps, a multi-layer SX deposit with fine dendrites was successfully fabricated by LAM. This successful SX LAM indicates that these new processing–microstructure maps involving powder feeding are reliable and useful because they can determine proper processing windows for LAM of SX superalloys and further advance the understanding of the processing–microstructure relationship in powder-feeding LAM process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solidification path of single-crystal nickel-base superalloys containing minor carbon was investigated under various laser rapid directional solidification (LRDS) conditions. By controlling the solidification rate, LRDS processing can provide the evidence whether some diffusion-controlled phase transformations occur because such transformations will be suppressed under high cooling rates. Results show that the solidification path and final solidification microstructure depend upon the cooling rate; the microstructure without γ-γ′ eutectic can be obtained as long as the cooling rate is high enough. A peritectic transformation in carbon-containing single-crystal superalloys was first experimentally verified by controlling the cooling rate during LRDS processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary dendritic arm spacing (PDAS) is an important microstructure feature in the nickel-base single-crystal (SX) superalloys by laser rapid directional solidification (LRDS). A combined numerical model was developed in this paper to investigate the influence of laser processing parameters on the PDAS. This model consists of (1) the theoretical PDAS models which relate PDAS to the solidification conditions and (2) the heat-flux calculations of laser processing which provide the solidification conditions as a function of the processing parameters. It is therefore able to immediately relate the PDAS to the processing parameters and obtain corresponding processing–microstructure maps. To verify the predicted accuracy, the PDAS values calculated by different theoretical models were compared with those produced under different processing conditions. Results show that the PDAS firstly decreases and then increases at a lower laser power whereas it decreases with increasing scanning velocity at a higher laser power, leading to nose-shape contour lines. The predicted accuracy depends on appropriate selections of material thermo-physical properties. These processing–microstructure maps can accurately capture the trends of the PDAS variation with the processing parameters and contribute to the control and optimization of dendritic microstructure while determining relevant processing windows for controlled SX laser processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]