The temperature capability of nickel-base superalloys which are used in aircraft turbines may be able to be extended if novel microstructures can be produced in these materials by rapid solidification. The primary goal of these efforts is to achieve a fine dispersion of small precipitates which are stable at high temperature in the alloys. One class of alloys which seem particularly promising are the eutectic superalloys, which solidify via a eutectic reaction in which a γ- γ’ matrix containing MC carbides is formed. For this investigation, alloys which contained either Ta, Ti, or V as the primary carbide former were studied. In all cases, the base alloy consisted of Ni-4%Co-4%Cr-5.5%Al-2%Mo-3%W-1.5%Re-0.3%C in weight percent. The alloys additionally contained either 9% Ta, 5.5% Ti, or 4.5% V (subsequently referred to as alloys A, B, and C, respectively). The alloys were rapidly solidified by melt-spinning in vacuum.
Microstructural characterization of high energy product Nd-Fe-B rapidly solidified ribbons