Influence of Hot Isostatic Pressing on the Hot Ductility of Cast Alloy 718: The Effect of Niobium and Minor Elements on the Liquation Mechanism

The influence of two hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatments on liquation behavior was investigated and compared with regard to the extent of heat-affected zone liquation cracking in cast Alloy 718. The extent of liquation was seen to increase after HIP treatment at 1190 °C due to solute changes caused by the homogenization of Nb, which contributed to extensive grain boundary melting. The HIP treatment at 1120 °C exhibited lower liquation with contributions from particle liquation of the Laves phase and constitutional liquation of NbC carbides. This was also reflected in a lower ductility recovery temperature, with slower recovery for the former due to the extensive liquation. Interestingly, the nil ductility temperatures were both below the predicted equilibrium solidus of the alloy, which suggests that the ductility drop is related to liquation caused by solute segregation at the grain boundaries.

Heat-Affected-Zone Liquation Cracking in Welded Cast Haynes® 282®

Varestraint weldability testing and Gleeble thermomechanical simulation of the newly developed cast form of Haynes® 282® were performed to understand how heat-affected-zone (HAZ) liquation cracking is influenced by different preweld heat treatments. In contrast to common understanding, cracking susceptibility did not improve with a higher degree of homogenization achieved at a higher heat-treatment temperature. Heat treatments with a 4 h dwell time at 1120 °C and 1160 °C exhibited low cracking sensitivity, whereas by increasing the temperature to 1190 °C, the cracking was exacerbated. Nanosecond ion mass spectrometry analysis was done to characterize B segregation at grain boundaries that the 1190 °C heat treatment indicated to be liberated from the dissolution of C–B rich precipitates.