Conventionally cast γ’ precipitation hardened nickel-base superalloys possess well-defined dendritic structures and normally exhibit pronounced segregation. Splat quenched, or rapidly solidified alloys, on the other hand, show little or no evidence for phase decomposition and markedly reduced segregation. In what follows, it is shown that comparable results have been obtained in superalloys processed by the LASERGLAZE™ method.In laser glazing, a sharply focused laser beam is traversed across the material surface at a rate that induces surface localized melting, while avoiding significant surface vaporization. Under these conditions, computations of the average cooling rate can be made with confidence, since intimate contact between the melt and the self-substrate ensures that the heat transfer coefficient is reproducibly constant (h=∞ for perfect contact) in contrast to the variable h characteristic of splat quenching. Results of such computations for pure nickel are presented in Fig. 1, which shows that there is a maximum cooling rate for a given absorbed power density, corresponding to the limiting case in which melt depth approaches zero.
