High-throughput Characterization of the Key Superalloy Components for Aerospace using Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation Technologies

Wang Yandong*, Li Shilei, Zhang Zhewei, Wang Youkang, Yan Zhiran

Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

ABSTRACT: The manufacturing process of the core hot-end superalloy parts for advanced aero-engines is complicated, and it is difficult to completely eliminate residual stress in the finished parts. Under high temperature and complex loads during service, the residual stresses in the superalloy components will lead to the reduction of fatigue life and unexpected deformation. It is urgent to establish and develop the in-situ non-destructive characterization techniques for the multi-scale structure and stress evolution in superalloy components during the manufacturing and service process. The high-throughput characterization technologies based on neutron and synchrotron radiation technology provide powerful methods for revealing the evolution of multi-scale structure and stress in superalloy parts and materials. In this study, we used neutron diffraction, synchrotron radiation high-energy X-ray diffraction and synchrotron radiation micro-beam diffraction techniques to study the characteristics of the cross-scale distribution of structure and stress in typical superalloy components and materials, as well as the inheritance and evolution laws during the manufacturing and service process. And the damage micro-mechanism dominated by multi-scale stress under temperature and load was also discussed. In case one, we used neutron diffraction, synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction and laboratory X-ray diffraction techniques to study the multi-scale stress distribution from the surface to the interior of the powder metallurgy turbine disk, and the law of multi-scale stress filed evolution in the solution and aging processes. These results provide important support for the development of new generation of powder metallurgy turbine disks. In case two, the neutron time of flight technology was employed to in situ study the deformation behavior and damage mechanism of superalloys containing different sizes of γ' precipitates phases. The results help to reveal the stress partitioning behaviors between γ' precipitate phases and the matrix in the superalloy. In case 3, the micro-beam diffraction technology was carried out to investigate the microstructure characteristics within the grains of superalloys after high temperature fatigue. It is revealed that the microscopic damage mechanism in superalloy during fatigue is closely related to the micro-scale strain/orientation distribution and evolution within the grains.

 Figure 1.  Using synchrotron-based X-ray microbeam diffraction technology to reveal the microscopic damage mechanism of

Keywords: High-throughput characterization; superalloy; neutron diffraction; synchrotron radiation;