Improving the phase stability and oxidation resistance of β-NiAl
- Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
High temperature alloys are essential to many industries that require a stable material to perform in harsh oxidative environments. Many of these alloys are suited for specific applications such as jet engine turbine blades where most other materials would either melt or oxidize and crumble (1). These alloys must have a high melting temperature, excellent oxidation resistance, good creep resistance, and decent fracture toughness to be successfully used in such environments. The discovery of Ni based superalloys in the 1940s revolutionized the high temperature alloy industry and there has been continued development of these alloys since their advent (2). These materials are capable of operating in oxidative environments in the presence of combustion gases, water vapor and at temperatures around 1050 C. Demands for increased f uel efficiency, however, has highlighted the need for materials that can be used under similar atmospheres and at temperatures in excess of 1200 C. The current Ni based superalloys are restricted to lower temperatures due to the presence of a number of low melting phases that result in softening of the alloys above 1000 C. Therefore, recent research has been aimed at exploring and developing newer alloy systems that can meet the escalating requirements. This thesis comprises a part of such an effort. The motivation of this work is to develop a novel high temperature alloy system that shows improved performance at higher temperatures than the currently employed alloys. The desired alloy should be in accordance with the requirements established in the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) FutureGen program having an operating temperature around 1300 C. Alloys based on NiAl offer significant potential payoffs as structural materials in gas turbine applications due to a unique range of physical and mechanical properties. Alloying additions to NiAl could be used to further improve the pertinent properties that currently limit this system from replacing Ni based superalloys. Modifications to NiAl were explored to increase the phase stability and oxidation resistance which would allow these alloys to be used at even higher temperatures yielding greater efficiencies. The extended Miedema model was an effective tool that screened all of the potential phase space for ternary substitutions to NiAl and found the few potential systems worth further investigation. After production of the alloys it was determined that Ir, Rh, and Pd were the top candidates for substitution on Ni site up to 12 at%. The melting temperature of NiAl could be increased as much as 150 C with 12 at% Ir and 130 C with 12 at% Rh substitution. Pall adium on the other hand decreased the melting temperature by 50 C at the 12 at% substitution level. The grain size was found to have a profound influence on the oxidation resistance. Both Ir and Rh substitutions resulted in finer grain sizes compared to Pd substitutions or base NiAl. The grain size increased drastically during high temperature annealing with the PGM substitutions hindering grain growth only slightly. However, the addition of 0.05 at% Hf limited the grain growth dramatically during high temperature annealing. NiAl inherently has respectable oxidation resistance up to 1100 C. It was found through experimental testing that both Ir and Rh substitutions improve the oxidation resistance of NiAl at ultra-high temperatures with Ir performing the best. Both PGM substitutions decreased the growth rate as well as forming a more adherent oxide scale. Pd substitutions appeared to have a negligible effect to the oxidation resistance of NiAl. Hafnium addition of 0.05 at% was found to decrease the oxidation rate as well as increase the scale adherence. The combination of both Ir substitution (6-9 at%) and Hf addition (0.05 at%) produced the alloy with the best oxidation resistance. Although improvements in phase stability and oxidation resistance have been made to the NiAl system, more development and testing are still needed. Two major issues yet to be resolved are the low fracture toughness at ambient temperatures and low creep resistance at elevated temperatures. Efforts are underway to improve both of these properties by adding a second phase refractory metal, namely molybdenum.
- Research Organization:
- Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11358
- OSTI ID:
- 1029609
- Report Number(s):
- IS-T 3025; TRN: US201201%%156
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Compression properties of B-doped Ir-15Nb two-phase refractory superalloys
Computational and Experimental Development of Novel High Temperature Alloys
Related Subjects
ALLOY SYSTEMS
ALLOYS
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
ANNEALING
BUILDING MATERIALS
CREEP
FLUE GAS
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
GAS TURBINES
GRAIN GROWTH
GRAIN SIZE
HAFNIUM ADDITIONS
HEAT RESISTING ALLOYS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MELTING
MOLYBDENUM
OXIDATION
OXIDES
PHASE SPACE
PHASE STABILITY
REFRACTORY METALS
TURBINE BLADES
WATER VAPOR