NASA NTRS2002
Despite nickel aluminide (NiAl) alloys' attractive combination of oxidation and thermophysical properties, their development as replacements for superalloy airfoils in gas turbine engines has been largely limited by difficulties in developing alloys with an optimum combination of elevated-temperature creep resistance and room-temperature fracture toughness. Alternatively, research has focused on developing directionally solidified NiAl-based in situ eutectic composites composed of NiAl and (Cr,Mo) phases in order to obtain a desirable combination of properties a systematic investigation was undertaken at the NASA Glenn Research Center to examine the effects of small additions of 11 alloying elements (Co, Cu, Fe, Hf, Mn, Nb, Re, Si, Ta, Ti, and Zr) in amounts varying from 0.25 to 1.0 at.% on the elevated-temperature strength and room-temperature fracture toughness of directionally solidified Ni-33Al-31Cr-3Mo eutectic alloy. The alloys were grown at 12.7 mm/hr, where the unalloyed eutectic base alloy exhibited a planar eutectic microstructure. The different microstructures that formed because of these fifth-element additions are included in the table. The additions of these elements even in small amounts resulted in the formation of cellular microstructures, and in some cases, dendrites and third phases were observed. Most of these elemental additions did not improve either the elevated-temperature strength or the room-temperature fracture toughness over that of the base alloy. However, small improvements in the compression strength were observed between 1200 and 1400 K when 0.5 at.% Hf and 0.25 at.% Ti were added to the base alloy. The results of this study suggest that the microalloying of Ni-33Al-31Cr-3Mo will not significantly improve either its elevatedtemperature strength or its room-temperature fracture toughness. Thus, any improvements in these properties must be acquired by changing the processing conditions.
Whittenberger, J. Daniel↗