Phase precipitation and phase stability in nimonic 263

Abstract

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermodynamic calculations were employed to study the phase stability and phase precipitation in the Ni-based superalloy Nimonic 263. The major precipitates at temperatures below 900 °C were gamma-prime and eta (Ni₃Ti), with the eta phase starting to precipitate at the expense of the gamma-prime phase after prolonged annealing. The eta precipitates had a thin-plate morphology and formed a regular Widmanstätten pattern. They had a fixed orientation relationship with the fcc matrix. Very fine particles of M₂₃C₆ also precipitated intragranularly, and they had a cube-on-cube orientation relationship (OR) with the fcc matrix. Intragranular precipitation of a very fine cylindrical MC carbide was also observed. Grain-boundary (GB) precipitates were mostly M₂₃C₆, with a small fraction of MC. Based on the experimental results, a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram was constructed. The experimental results were compared to thermodynamic predictions, and good agreement was observed. The calculations correctly predicted almost all the major phases and their stability temperature ranges. The experimental and calculation results, together, depict a clearer picture of phase stability in the alloy.