In this study, solid solution heat treatment of consolidated nickel-based superalloy powders is carried out by hot isotactic pressing. The effects of the cooling rate of salt quenching, and air cooling on the microstructures and the mechanical properties of the specimens are analyzed . The specimen that is air cooled shows the formation of serrated grain boundaries due to their obstruction by the carbide particles. Moreover, the specimen that is salt quenched shows higher strength than the one that is air cooled due to the presence of fine and close-packed tertiary gamma prime phase. The tensile elongation at high temperatures improves due to the presence of grain boundary serrations in the specimen that is air cooled. On the contrary, the specimen that is salt quenched and consists of unserrated grain boundaries shows better creep properties than the air cooled specimen with the serrated grain boundaries, due to the negative creep phenomenon.

The fatigue strength of a nickel-base superalloy was studied. Stress-controlled fatigue tests were carried out at 700 oC and 5 Hz using triangular wave forms. In this study, two kinds of testing procedures were adopted. One is the conventional tension-zero fatigue test(R = 0). The other was a procedure in which the maximum stress was held at 1000 MPa and the minimum stress was diverse from zero to 1000 MPa at 24 and 700 oC. The results of the fatigue tests at 700 oC indicate that the fracture mechanism changed according to both the mean stress and the stress range. At a higher stress range, γ ' precipitates are sheared by a/2<110> dislocation pairs coupled by APB. Therefore, in a large stress range, the deformation occurred by shearing of γ ' by a/2<110> dislocations, which brought about crystallographic shear fracture. As the stress range was decreased, the fracture mode gradually changed from crystallographic shear fracture to gradual growth of fatigue cracks. At an intermediate stress range, as it became more difficult for a/2<110> dislocation pairs to shear γ ' particles, cracks started to propagate in the matrix, avoiding the harder γ ' particles. High mean stress induced creep deformation, that is, γ ' particles were sheared by {111}<112> slip systems, which led to the formation of stacking faults in the precipitates. Thus, the change in fracture mechanism brought about the inversion of the S-N curves.

The γ/γ´ two-phases, commonly known as a eutectic structure, are observed in the γ interdendritic region of a Nibase superalloy. However, the growth behavior of the γ/γ´ two-phases, whether it is of eutectic or peritectic nature, has not been decidedly established. Directional solidifications were, thus, performed with the planar interface at a low growth rate of 0.5 μm/s in order to promote macro segregation. Directional solidification started with the γ planar interface and the γ´ phase nucleated on the γ planar interface at the solidification fraction of 0.75. The γ/γ´ two-phases showed the γ´ rod structure as major phase and the γ minor phase between γ´ rods, and the volume fraction of the γ phase changed continuously with an increasing solidification fraction. The two-phase γ/γ´ is seen as the coupled peritectic.

This study was carried out to evaluate the microstructures and mechanical properties of a friction stir welded Ni based alloy. Inconel 600 (single phase type) alloy was selected as an experimental material. For this material, friction stir welding (FSW) was performed at a constant tool rotation speed of 400 rpm and a welding speed of 150~200 mm/min by a FSW machine, and argon shielding gas was utilized to prevent surface oxidation of the weld material. At all conditions, sound friction stir welds without any weld defects were obtained. The electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) method was used to analyze the grain boundary character distributions (GBCDs) of the welds. As a result, dynamic recrystallization was observed at all conditions. In addition, grain refinement was achieved in the stir zone, gradually accelerating from 19 μm in average grain size of the base material to 5.5 μm (150 mm/min) and 4.1 μm (200 mm/min) in the stir zone with increasing welding speed. Grain refinement also led to enhancement of the mechanical properties: the 200 mm/min friction stir welded zone showed 25% higher microhardness and 15% higher tensile strength relative to the base material.

가스터빈 블레이드 재료로 사용되는 IN738LC 니켈기 초합금 주조재에 대하여 고온등압압축(HIP) 공정에 의한 미세조직 변화와 고온 피로수명에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 세부적으로 HIP 처리에 따른 주조결함 제거와 피로변형 열화재의 물성재생효과 확인에 중점을 두었으며, 이를 위하여 회전굽힘 피로시험을 실시하고 변형전후의 미세조직을 광학 및 주사전자현미경으로 관찰하였다. HIP 처리 전후의 미세조직과 피로수명을 비교, 평가한 결과, 주조재와 열처리재의 피로수명 차는 크지 않았으나 HIP 처리재의 피로수명은 이들과 비교하여 평균 60배 이상 증가한 것으로 나타났다. 또한 인위적으로 고온 피로변형을 가한 열화재를 대상으로 반복 HIP 처리한 결과, 열화 변형조직이 신재 상태로 거의 완전히 재생될 뿐만 아니라, 재료내에 미세하게 잔존하던 주조결함까지 부가적으로 제거됨에 따라 반복 HIP 처리에 의한 피로수명 연장 효과가 크게 나타났다.

Ni기 초합금인 B1914로 다결정, 방향성 및 단결정을 제조하여, 상온과 고온에서 이들 결정종류에 따른 변형을 관찰하였다. 이들 결정을 제작하기 위하여 진공 주조로에서 냉각속도와 온도구배를 제어하였으며, 제작된 봉상 시편들은 2단계의 진공열처리를 하고 아르곤가스로 급냉하였다. 동일한 모합금인 B1914로 제조된 결정들은 결정종류에 따라서 뚜렷한 변형(stress-strain)을 나타내었다. 즉, 항복강도와 인장강도는 다결정, 방향성 및 단결정 순으로 뚜렷이 증가하였다. 또한 600˚C에서 모든 결정들은 γ'의 강화효과로 인해서 가장 높은 741-816MPa의 항복강도를 나타내었으며, 인장강도는 1005-1139MPa이었다.