Correlation between Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Heat-Treated Novel Powder Metallurgy Superalloy

In this work, the quantification of key microstructural features like γ' size morphology distribution, grain size, and localized stress distribution, especially near a fracture, were coupled with mechanical properties under various temperatures in Ni-base powder metallurgy superalloys subjected to sub-solvus or super-solvus heat treatments. Compared to super-solvus heat-treated alloy, sub-solvus heat-treated superalloy with a finer grain size exhibited higher ductility/strength at 550 °C, whilst adverse trend was observed at higher temperatures (750 and 830 °C). Besides, for both alloys, the strength and ductility decreased with the decrease in strain rate, resulting from oxidation behavior. Larger grain size or less grain boundary density can facilitate the retardation of oxidation behavior and weaken the propensity of early failure at higher temperatures.