Automatic Identification and Quantitative Characterization of Primary Dendrite Microstructure Based on Machine Learning

Dendrites are important microstructures in single-crystal superalloys. The distribution of dendrites is closely related to the heat treatment process and mechanical properties of single-crystal superalloys. The primary dendrite arm spacing (PDAS) is an important length scale to describe the distribution of dendrites. In this work, the second-generation single crystal superalloy HT901 with a diameter of 15 mm was imaged under a metallurgical microscope. An automatic dendrite core identification and full-field quantitative statistical analysis method is proposed to automatically detect the dendrite core and calculate the local PDAS. The Faster R-CNN algorithm combined with test time augmentation (TTA) technology is used to automatically identify the dendrite cores. The local multi-directional algorithm combined with Voronoi tessellation is used to determine the local nearest neighbor dendrite and calculate the local PDAS and coordination number. The accuracy of using Faster R-CNN combined with TTA to detect the dendrite core of HT901 reaches 98.4%, which is 15.9% higher than using Faster R-CNN alone. The algorithm calculates the local PDAS of all dendrites in H901 and captures the Gaussian distribution of the local PDAS. The average PDAS determined by the Gaussian distribution is 415 μm, which is only a small difference from the average spacing λ¯ (420 μm) calculated by the traditional method. The technology analyzes the relationship between the local PDAS and the distance from the center of the sample. The local PDAS near the center of HT901 are larger than those near the edge. The results suggests that the method enables the rapid, accurate and quantitative dendritic distribution characterization.

Effects of Co on the Solidification and Precipitation Behaviors of IN 718 Alloy

The effects of Co from 0 to 11.60 % (in mass fraction) on the solidification and precipitation behaviors of IN 718 alloy had been investigated. The results showed that the volume fraction of the dendrite core increased with the addition of Co. In the alloys with 0-5.84 %Co, the addition of Co could restrain the precipitation of blocky Laves phase and promoted the formation of eutectic Laves phase. In the alloys with 9.00-11.60 % Co, the eutectic gray phase and small blocky Laves phase precipitated in the interdendritic region. The eutectic gray phase increased and small blocky Laves phase decreased with increasing Co. The parallel lath-like δ-Ni3Nb phase was observed to precipitate in some interdendritic region without the formation of gray phase and Laves phase in the 9.00-11.60 % Co alloys. Further research found that Co slightly segregated in the dendrite core and markedly raised the solubility of element Mo in the dendrite core which resulted in reduced Mo in the residual liquid, and consequently, restrained Laves phase while promoted the precipitation of Mo-depleted gray phase and δ-Ni3Nb phase. Furthermore, Co was seemed to elevate the solidification point of the γ matrix while decrease that of the Laves phase.

Effect of Hot Isostatic Pressing on the Microstructure of K417G Cast Turbine Discs

The present study focused on the effect of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment on the microstructure of K417G superalloy. The experimental results showed that after the HIP treatment the size and volume fraction of the porosities significantly decreased. In addition, the dendritic structure and γ/γ' eutectics in the as-cast specimens became obscure after the HIP treatment due to the improvement of segregation. The γ′ phases in the dendrite core were smaller than those in the interdendritic region, whether in the as-cast or HIP specimens. The slow cooling at the end of the HIP treatment leads to the irregular morphology of the γ′ phases.

Microsegregation Behavior of Single Crystal Superalloy

The major advancements in some mechanical properties of single crystal superalloys can be attributed to the carbon addition. The present study investigated the effect of carbon addition levels on the microsegregation behavior of single crystal superalloys. Quantitatative partitioning results indicated that typical single crystal superalloy segregation behavior for some elements such as W, Ni, Co, are all towards the dendrite core regions, while for elements of Al, Mo, Ta, Ti, Cr, partition towards the interdendrite regions. For all the alloys studied, the baseline alloy showed the most severe segregation degree, while the no carbon alloy the slightest. Furthermore, the segregation behavior of Ti and Ta were affected by the carbon additions, and that of W was greatly affected by the carbon levels.

Electrodeposition of Ag nanosheet-assembled microsphere@Ag dendrite core–shell hierarchical architectures and their application in SERS

Ag nanosheet-assembled microsphere@Ag dendrite core–shell hierarchical architectures with excellent SERS performance are successfully synthesized.

Effect of Hot Isostatic Pressing on the Microstructure of Single Crystal Ni-Based Superalloy DD10

The effects of hot isostatic pressing on the microstructures of a third generation single crystal Ni-based superalloy DD10 were investigated by using optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron microprobe analyzer (EPMA). The results showed that the micropores in the interdendritic region were eliminated completely after hot isostatic pressing at 1320 and 150MPa. Meanwhile, the morphology of γ precipitates changed to be more cuboidal and the distribution of γ precipitates in both dendrite core and interdendritic region became more uniform after hot isostatic pressing. Hot isostatic pressing also promoted the homogenization of the composition between dendrite core and interdendritic region and the dendritic segregation of Re, W, Al and Ta was decreased.