Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
ABSTRACT. The heat-affected-zone gine components, including blades, buck- Experimental Procedure
(HAZ) liquation cracking susceptibility of ets, and static (nonrotating) components
wrought Waspaloy® subjected to simu- has become increasingly prevalent as a Two Waspaloy materials were used in
lated, multiple postweld heat treatment means of extending engine life and reduc- this study. One was a wrought bar in the
(PWHT) cycles was evaluated using hot ing the costs associated with component solution-annealed condition. The other
ductility testing. The behavior of both a replacement. As part of the repair welding was a forged aircraft turbine disk, 840 mm
wrought bar material and a forged turbine process, the precipitation-hardened su- (31.5 in.) in diameter, with a bimodal grain
disk was evaluated. A long-term isother- peralloys must undergo postweld heat structure (Ref. 6), provided in the fully
mal heat treatment was used to simulate treatment (PWHT) to restore their me- heat-treated condition, i.e., solution heat
multiple PWHT cycles that Waspaloy tur- chanical properties. Because components treated at 1079°C (1975°F) and aged at
bine engine components would experi- are subject to multiple repairs over their 760°C (1400°F). The chemical composi-
ence during periodic weld repair. The lifetimes, they are also exposed to multi- tions of these two materials are listed in
weldability degradation of Waspaloy after ple cycles of PWHT consisting of solution Table 1.
a 1079°C/40-h heat treatment is primarily treatment followed by aging. It has been Initially, the use of a long-term isother-
due to increased grain size from long- observed the weldability of some superal- mal heat treatment to simulate multiple
term, elevated-temperature exposure. loys degrades after an accumulation of re- PWHT cycles was investigated to shorten
The finer grain size of the wrought bar ac- pair/PWHT cycles (Refs. 1–5). The pur- the experimental period in sample prepa-
counted for its minimal degradation of pose of this study was to develop a better ration. The premise in the use of this ap-
weldability, while coarse grains resulted in understanding of the relationship be- proach was that the solution treatment
a drastic deterioration of weldability in the tween multiple PWHT cycles and the employed in PWHT results in the metal-
forged disk. The degradation of weldabil- weldability of Waspaloy. lurgical “degradation” of the material
ity is associated with the short-time, high- It should be noted material for this in- since the aging portion of the heat treat-
temperature grain boundary (GB) weak- vestigation was taken from a turbine rotor ment is reversible, i.e., the aging precipi-
ening resulting from MC-type carbide disk. Repair of disk materials by welding is tate, γ´–Ni3(Al,Ti), dissolves during the
constitutional liquation and segregation- generally not allowed and this paper does solutionizing portion of the PWHT cycle.
induced GB liquation in the simulated not suggest repair of these components be Both Waspaloy bar and disk materials
HAZ of Waspaloy materials. A conducted. Rather, the disk was a ready were used for the simulation with the fol-
1079°C/100-h treatment resulted in a source of Waspaloy material that exhib- lowing heat treatment conditions (Ref. 7):
restoration of the weldability of the forged ited metallurgical characteristics of inter- 1) 1079°C (1975°F)/4h for ten cycles with
disk even with comparable coarse grain est in this investigation. furnace cooling between cycles, and 2) an
size to that of simulated 1079°C/40-h isothermal hold at 1079°C for 40 h. Both
treated material. The effect of grain size heat treatments were conducted in an
and the fraction of special grain bound- argon-protected tube furnace. In addition,
KEY WORDS
aries on the HAZ liquation cracking be- the 1079°C/40-h treatment was also con-
havior is discussed with regard to the sim- ducted in air in a box furnace (BF) with air
Waspaloy®
ulated multiple PWHT cycles. cooling for comparison. For the final long-
Postweld Heat Treatment (PWHT)
Weldability term, isothermal heat treatments, the box
Introduction Heat-Affected Zone (HAZ) furnace with no protective atmosphere
Liquation Cracking was used to treat bulk Waspaloy materials.
Weld repair of aircraft gas turbine en- Test specimens were then machined from
Special Grain Boundary
Grain Size these bulk samples, so they were not af-
Intergranular Fracture fected by the surface oxidation of the bulk
M. QIAN AND J. C. LIPPOLD are with The sample.
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. The weldability of Waspaloy materials
Fig. 3 — Fractography of DRT samples of Waspaloy disk showing IG features. A — As-received; B — 1079°C/40-h treated.
C D
Fig. 4 — Evidence of liquation phenomena in NST samples. A — Carbide constitutional liquation; B — liquation reaction zone around a MC carbide in A;
C — GB liquation; D — detail of C showing boron-rich GB constituents.
Table 4 — Grain Size and Distribution of Waspaloy Disk Material. crease of fraction of large grains relative to
the small ones for the 100-h-treated sam-
Large Grain Small Grain Area Ratio of ples compared with the 40-h-treated ones
Waspaloy Size Area Size (df), Area Large to Small Grain and the as-received. It is, therefore, clear
Disk µm (%) µm (%) the improved resistance to liquation
cracking of the 1079°C/100-h-treated Was-
As-received 189.1 ± 114 43.8 46.4± 24 56.2 0.78
10798C/40h 559 ± 182 64.7 255 ± 86 35.3 1.83 paloy disk cannot be explained by a grain-
10798C/100h 586 ± 171 71.5 250 ± 87 28.5 2.51 size effect. Fractographic and microstruc-
tural features were examined to explore
potential causes for such an improved re-
sistance. It was observed annealing twins
Table 5 — Grain Boundary Character Distribution (GBCD) of the Waspaloy Disk Material were abundant in the 1079°C/100-h-
treated Waspaloy disk samples. Figure 5
GBCD (%) As-Received 1079°C/40h 10798C/100h shows representative twin-related fracture
morphology of samples tested above the
S3 39.7 51.7 65.8
DRT, as evidenced by wavy features on the
S3, <111>/60˚-Twin 38.0 49.6 64.9
S9 and S27 2.3 1.43 0.75 intergranular fracture surface. Inspection
Total ∑ ≤29 45.6 56.2 69.4 of the microstructure revealed some grain
Random 54.4 43.8 30.6 boundary segments are resistant to IG
fracture.
This is illustrated clearly in
1079°C/100-h-treated Waspaloy disk sam-
value. This indicates an improvement in that of 1079°C/100-h-treated Waspaloy ples as shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen the
weldability after isothermal treatment of disk if the same Tp was applied. crack propagation along GBs ceased at
1079°C/100-h relative to 40-h-treated ma- The grain size and distribution of some twin-related segments (Figs. 6, A
terial. Note that Tp affects the ductility of 1079°C/100-h-treated Waspaloy disk were and B). Wavy dimple-shaped fracture pat-
on-cooling samples, including the DRT acquired as shown in Table 4, along with tern was also seen on the segment inter-
value, which was observed in the experi- those of other two conditions of the disk faces (Fig. 6A), which corresponds to the
ments. Therefore, it can be reasonably ex- materials. It is noted there is a slight grain phenomena observed in Fig. 5. The grain
pected the as-received disk should have an size increase for the 1079°C/100-h-treated boundary character distribution (GBCD)
even smaller LTR at least equivalent to disk. Besides, there is also a notable in- was therefore evaluated using OIM to
C
D
Fig. 5 — Twin-related “wavy” fracture surfaces of 1079°C/100-h-treated Waspaloy disk hot-ductility samples. A — NDT; B — detail of A; C — on-cooling at
1024°C; D — detail of C.
A B
Fig. 6 — Grain boundary (GB) segments resistant to IG fracture in 1079°C/100-h-treated Waspaloy disk. A — Sample tested between NDT and NST; B —
NDT sample showing twin-related GB segments hindering the fracture propagation.
quantify the twinning effect. boundaries. The fraction of special GBs of ported to be beneficial to IG degradations
The acquired volume fraction of the Waspaloy disk materials increased as well as weldability (Refs. 11–15).
GBCD differentiated as Σ3 CSL (Coinci- with an increase of the isothermal hold du- Figure 7 presents a typical SEM micro-
dence-Site-Lattice) boundaries, special ration, where 1079°C/100-h treatment graph and the matched OIM image show-
GBs (Σ<29), and random GBs are shown yielded the highest fraction of special ing boundary orientation. It can be seen
in Table 5. The values are percentages of GBs. Since HAZ liquation cracking is in- some GB segments of an individual GB do
the particular boundary in the total tergranular due to the GB liquation that not show signs of liquation while others
boundary length. It can be seen that the occurred at high temperatures, the behav- do. GB segments 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 are not
fraction of Σ3 CSL boundaries represents ior of special GBs was investigated. These liquated. Note segments 2, 4, and 5 are the
the majority of the total special grain special GBs have been previously re- intersected parts of two different pairs of
Fig. 7 — Boundary differentiation of Waspaloy bar. A — SEM micrograph; B — OIM image: H– high-angle GB; L– low-angle GB.
twin boundaries with two respective, orig- 2) Local Ti-rich, MC-type carbide con- ability of Alloy 718. Superalloys 718, 625, 706
inal high-angle GBs, as shown in Fig. 7B. stitutional liquation and segregation- and Various Derivatives, pp. 731–741. Minerals,
Segment 2 is composed of sections of spe- induced grain boundary liquation are re- Metals and Materials Society/AIME.
cial GBs (Σ13a and Σ25a) and high-angle sponsible for HAZ liquation cracking be- 5. Bowers, R. J., and Lippold, J. C. 1997. Ef-
GBs, while segment 4 comprises several havior. fect of composition and heat treatment cycles
sections of Σ CSL boundaries (i.e., Σ13a, 3) The 1079°C/100-h treatment re- on the repair weldability of Alloy 718. Joining
Σ25a, and Σ37a). Segment 5 is simply a stored the weldability of the Waspaloy and Repair of Gas Turbine Components, pp.
high-angle GB, however, intersected by a disk, even with comparable coarse grain 41–50. Materials Park, Ohio: ASM Interna-
twin. The other two segments, 7 and 8, are size to that of 1079°C/40-h-treated mater- tional.
not liquated and are identified as Σ39a and ial. This improvement resulted from the 6. Qian, M. 2001. An investigation of the re-
a low-angle GB, respectively. It can be high fraction of special grain boundaries pair weldability of Waspaloy and Alloy 718.
summarized, based on the microstructural resulting from this heat treatment. Ph.D. dissertation. The Ohio State University,
and OIM analysis, that the increase of re- 4) Grain size and special grain bound- Columbus, Ohio.
sistance to liquation and therefore resis- ary are the two primary factors influencing 7. Waspaloy, Alloy Digest. 1967. Filing Code:
tance to IG fracture is closely related to HAZ liquation cracking after multiple Ni-129.
the beneficial effect of special grain PWHTs. The presence of abundant spe- 8. Lin, W., Lippold, J. C., and Baeslack, W.
boundaries. The Σ CSL GBs, low-angle cial grain boundaries dominated the effect A. III. 1993. An evaluation of heat-affected
GBs, and even twin-related, high-angle of grain size in the heat-affected zone of zone liquation cracking susceptibility, part 1:
GBs also showed resistance to liquation. the Waspaloy bar stock and the forged development of a method for quantification.
It is evident, therefore, that a high vol- disk. Welding Journal 72(4): 135-s to 153-s.
ume fraction of special GBs, especially Σ3 9. Image Tool 1997. Program developed at
boundaries, generated in the Waspaloy Acknowledgments the University of Texas Health Science Center
disk through 1079°C/100-h treatment ac- at San Antonio, Texas. Available at
counted for the improved weldability. Sincere appreciation is expressed to http://www.ddsdx.uthscsa.edu
With regard to effects on HAZ liquation Edison Welding Institute for research 10. Channel 4.2 software electronic files.
cracking, this study has shown both grain funding and Pratt and Whitney for pro- 2000. Developed by HKL Technology, Inc.
size and special GBs have an important in- viding some experimental materials. 11. Palumbo, G., King, P. J., Aust, K. T., Erb,
fluence, but the GBCD can have a domi- U., and Lichtenberger, P. C. 1991. Grain
nant effect. Even with relatively large References boundary design and control for intergranular
grain size, the cracking susceptibility of stress-corrosion resistance. Scripta Metallurgica
the disk material was significantly reduced 1. Chou, C. P., and Chao, C. H. 1988. Repair et Materialia 25: 1775–1780.
by increasing the fraction of special GBs. weldability studies of Alloy 718 using versatile 12. Cheung, C., Erb, U., and Palumbo, G.
This suggests grain boundary engineering Varestraint test. Superalloys 1988, pp. 785–794. 1994. Application of grain boundary engineer-
(GBE) techniques can be used to improve The Metallurgical Society/AIME. ing concepts to alleviate intergranular cracking
the weldability of wrought Waspaloy ma- 2. Lippold, J. C., Mehl, M., Lu, Q., Lin, W., in Alloy 600 and 690. Materials Science and En-
terials exposed to multiple PWHT cycles and Kelly, T. J. 1996. Effect of composition, mi- gineering A 185: 39–43.
following weld repair. crostructure, and thermal treatment on the re- 13. Palumbo, G. 1997. Thermomechanical
pair weldability of Alloy 718. 77th Annual AWS Processing of Metallic Materials. U.S. patent
Conclusions Convention Abstracts, pp. 124–125. Miami, Fla.: No. 5,702,543.
American Welding Society. 14. Manufacturing Process for Enhancing
1) The weldability degradation of Was- 3. Hooijmans, J. W., Lippold. J. C., and Lin, Weldability and High Temperature Performance
paloy materials in 1079°C/40-h condition W. 1997. Effect of multiple postweld heat treat- of Superalloys. 1998. Integran Technologies.
is primarily due to increased grain size ment on the weldability of Alloy 718. Superal- 15. Lehockey, E. M., and Palumbo, G. 1997.
from long-term reheats. Finer grain size loys 718, 625, 706 and Various Derivatives, pp. On the creep behavior of grain boundary engi-
accounts for the minimal degradation of 721–730. Minerals, Metals and Materials Soci- neered nickel. Materials Science and Engineer-
weldability in the wrought bar, while ety/AIME. ing A 237: 168-172.
coarse grains resulted in a drastic deterio- 4. Mehl, M. E., and Lippold, J. C. 1997. Ef-
ration of weldability in the forged disk. fect of δ-phase precipitation on the repair weld-