The freckle formation and their phase characterizatics in freckle areas were investigated by means of microstructure analysis approaches and a thermodynamic equilibrium phase calculation method in an Inconel 625 allay. These results show that in freckle areas a large number of M6C, MC, Laves and δ phases precipitate in grain boundaries even within grain due to the enrichment and segregation of Mo and Nb during solidification, which results in almost of these freckle areas covered by these complex precipitated phases and induces small grains in freckle areas. Equilibrium phase and liquid segregation calculation can give a reasonable interpretation of the freckle feature for this alloy.
The solidification microstructure and fractal characteristics of the solid-liquid interfaces of Inconel 718,under different cooling rates during directional solidification,were investigated by using SEM. Results showed that 5 μm/s was the cellular-dendrite transient rate. The prime dendrite arm spacing (PDAS) was measured by Image Tool and it decreased with the cooling rate increased. The fractal dimension of the interfaces was calculated and it changes from 1.204310 to 1.517265 with the withdrawal rate ranging from 10 to 100 μm/s. The physical significance of the fractal dimension was analyzed by using fractal theory. It was found that the fractal dimension of the dendrites can be used to describe the solidification microstructure and parameters at low cooling rate,but both the fractal dimension and the dendrite arm spacing are needed in order to integrally describe the evaluation of the solidification microstructure completely.
The freckle formation and their phase characterization in freckle areas were investigated by means of microstructure analysis approaches and a thermodynamic equilibrium phase calculation method in a Ni-Cr-Mo-Fe-W alloy. These results show that in freckle areas a large number of M6C, μ and P phases precipitate in grain boundaries even within grain due to the enrichment and segregation of Mo and C during solidification, which results in small grains in freckle areas. Equilibrium phase and liquid segregation calculation can give an reasonable interpretation of the freckle feature for this alloy.
The interdendritic segregation along the mushy zone of directionally solidified superalloy Inconel 718 has been measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersion analysis spectrometry (EDAX) techniques and the corresponding liquid composition profile was presented. The liquid density and Rayleigh number (Ra) pro files along the mushy zone were calculated as well. It was found that the liquid density difference increased from top to bottom in the mushy zone and there was no density inversion due to the segregation of Nb and Mo. However carbide formation in the freezing range and the preferred angle of the orientated dendrite array could prompt the fluid flow in the mushy zone although there was no liquid density inversion. The largest relative Rayleigh number appeared at 1,326 °C for Inconel 718 where the fluid flow most easily occurred.
