Understanding the precipitation kinetics of alloy AD730

Project aim

To explore the influence of heat treatments on microstructure evolution and specifically to understand:

• The kinetics of precipitation and dissolution of precipitates as a function of heat treatment temperature
• The evolution of stress as a function of microstructure evolution and in turn the evolution of residual stress during heat treatments

Project background

Nickel-based superalloys are the preferred choice of materials in gas turbine engines due to their excellent mechanical properties at high temperatures. AD730 is one of these alloys which is newly developed and relatively unexplored, it seeks to improve on the important ratio of high-temperature mechanical properties versus cost whilst still being manufactured via the cast and wrought route, making it cheaper to produce than the powder metallurgy manufactured superalloys. Alloy AD730 is specifically designed to be a cheaper alternative to Udimet720Li with similar mechanical properties and better workability.