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1 s2.0 S0921509314008028 Main
1 s2.0 S0921509314008028 Main
Hot tensile and stress rupture behavior of friction welded alloy 718
in different pre-and post-weld heat treatment conditions
R. Damodaram a, S. Ganesh Sundara Raman a,n, D.V.V. Satyanarayana b,
G. Madhusudhan Reddy b, K. Prasad Rao c
a
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
b
Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad 500058, India
c
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Alloy 718 rods in two different heat treated conditions (solution treatment (ST) and ST followed by aging
Received 2 April 2014 (STA)) were friction welded. The weld joints were subjected to two different post-weld heat treatments
Received in revised form (direct aging (DA) and STA). Tensile tests were carried out at 650 1C with an initial strain rate of 10 4 s 1.
12 June 2014
Stress rupture tests were performed at 650 1C at a constant load with an initial stress level of 690 MPa.
Accepted 21 June 2014
Available online 27 June 2014
The ultimate tensile strength values for all conditions, expect for base material in ST condition and weld
joints with prior ST or STA in the as-welded condition, were higher than the minimum value of
Keywords: 1000 MPa specified by the Aerospace Material Specification for the base material in STA condition. The
Alloy 718 weld joint specimen in the as-welded state with prior STA condition failed in heat affected zone (HAZ).
Friction welding
Though strengthening precipitates (γ00 ) dissolved in weld metal and HAZ during welding, HAZ was
High temperature tensile test
weaker than weld metal due to coarser grains and so failure occurred in HAZ. In all other conditions,
Stress rupture test
Post-weld heat treatment samples failed in base metal. The stress rupture properties such as minimum creep rate and time to
rupture of the base material in ST condition and as-welded joints with prior ST or STA condition are
almost same. The sample subjected to STA both before and after welding exhibits the best stress rupture
properties. It may be attributed to homogenization as well as moderate coarsening of grain structure of
weld zone and fine and uniform distribution of strengthening precipitates throughout the weldment.
However, to obtain the best combination of tensile and stress rupture properties, the material should be
welded in ST condition and it should be subjected to direct aging after welding.
& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2014.06.076
0921-5093/& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
R. Damodaram et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 612 (2014) 414–422 415
Cao [13] reported that dissolution/coarsening of strengthening was used for friction welding. The weld joints were produced
precipitates and formation of δ phase in alloy 718 play a major role using the process parameters – friction pressure of 300 MPa, upset
in degradation of mechanical properties such as tensile strength, pressure of 600 MPa, spindle speed of 1500 rpm and burn off
stress rupture life, creep resistance and low cycle fatigue life upon length of 4 mm.
thermal exposure up to 760 1C/500 h. Chang et al. [14] stated that a After friction welding, the welded joints were subjected to two
modified heat treatment ((1) solution treatment done at 1032 1C/ different PWHTs- (i) two-step aging, as mentioned earlier (here-
1 h and aging done 843 1C/4 h followed by air cooling and again after referred to as direct aging (DA)) and (ii) STA. DA after welding
(2) solution treatment done at 926 1C/1 h, furnace cooling to was performed to re-precipitate strengthening phases as they go
718 1C, then aging at 718 1C followed by air cooling to room into solution due to high temperature exposure during welding.
temperature) showed an increased tertiary creep life by a factor On the other hand, STA after welding was carried out to homo-
of 1.5–2 at 650 1C and stress level of 593 MPa compared to the genize weld metal as well as to promote uniform and fine
standard heat treatment in alloy 718. distribution of strengthening precipitates [20].
Chen and Chaturvedi [15] observed that solution treatment at High temperature tensile and stress rupture tests were per-
1000 1C resulted in superior stress rupture time and higher strain formed on friction welded samples in both the as-welded and
compared to solution treatment at 975 1C due to less volume post-weld heat treated conditions. Drawings of specimens used for
fraction of δ phase formation at grain boundaries. In a study on high temperature tensile and stress rupture tests are shown in
creep behavior of alloy 718 samples tested at a stress level of Fig. 1. Specimens were fabricated in such a way that the friction
795 MPa and at 625 1C, Korth [16] reported that long term thermal weld joint interface was located at the center of specimens. High
aging of alloy 718 at 650 1C for up to 50,000 h resulted in reduction temperature tensile tests were carried out at 650 1C at an initial
of creep rupture properties at 650 1C due to coarsening of γ00 and γ0 strain rate of 10 4 s 1 on an electromechanical screw driven
strengthening precipitates, which reduces coherency between the machine of 250 kN capacity. The specimens were soaked at
strengthening precipitates and the matrix tested. In a study on 650 1C for 1 h before starting the tests. Two samples were tested
friction deposited alloy 718, Dilip and Janaki Ram [17] have in each condition. The stress rupture tests were conducted at
reported inferior stress rupture life of the samples in the as- 650 1C and an initial applied tensile stress of 690 MPa. The stress
deposited condition compared to stress rupture life of the bulk rupture tests were carried out in a constant load creep testing
material due to the formation of very fine grains and absence of machine of 30 kN capacity. The specimen temperature during
grain boundary δ phase in as-friction deposited alloy 718. To stress rupture tests was measured in the gage and gripping
improve stress rupture properties, friction deposits were subjected portions using R-Type thermocouples and specimen temperature
to two step solution treatment (solution treatment at 1080 1C/ was controlled within 71 1C. The displacement was measured
30 min (for grain coarsening) followed by furnace cooling to using a high temperature extensometer and linear variable differ-
950 1C and then holding at 950 1C/30 min (for δ phase precipita- ential transducers assembly. The specimens were heated to 650 1C
tion)) and then standard aging treatment.
In an earlier work [18,19], the authors reported microstructure
and room temperature tensile properties of continuous drive
friction welded alloy 718 joints in as-welded condition and post-
weld heat treated conditions. Friction welded tensile test samples
with prior solution treatment and aging (STA) condition failed in
the weld zone due to dissolution of strengthening precipitates.
However, post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) involving STA
resulted in failure of friction welded tensile samples in the base
material. Post-weld direct aging treatment resulted in superior
microstructure and room temperature tensile properties com-
pared to post-weld STA.
The main objective of the present study is to produce friction
weld joints of alloy 718 with optimum high temperature tensile
and stress rupture properties through appropriate prior and post-
weld heat treatments.
2. Experimental procedures
Table 1
Chemical composition (in wt%) of base material alloy 718.
Ni Cr Fe Nb Mo Ti Al V Mn S C B
51.6 18.2 19.763 5.1 3.28 1.06 0.56 0.33 0.09 0.01 0.004 0.003
416 R. Damodaram et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 612 (2014) 414–422
and then load was applied after temperature was stabilized. Owing
to long testing duration and limitation in the resources, only one
sample was tested in each condition.
Microstructure of the samples before and after testing was
examined by using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Specimens for
metallographic observations were mechanically polished and then
etched using Kalling's agent (5 g CuCl2, 100 ml HCl and 100 ml
ethanol). For TEM studies done on samples after mechanical
testing, samples were taken parallel to the tensile loading direc- Fig. 4. Dark field TEM micrograph of base material in STA condition showing fine
tion near the fracture location. TEM samples were mechanically disc-shaped γ0 0 strengthening precipitates.
thinned to a thickness of 100 mm using SiC abrasive papers and
then thinned by twin jet electro polishing with an electrolyte of
10% perchloric acid in methanol at 30 1C. The fracture surfaces of
tensile and stress rupture tested samples were observed using
SEM to understand the fracture mechanisms.
3.1. Microstructure
Table 2
High temperature tensile test results.
a
AMS 5596 [24].
Fig. 7. Bright field TEM micrograph of a high temperature tensile tested as-welded
joint with prior STA condition near fracture location.
Fig. 6. Optical micrograph of vertical cross section of a high temperature tensile
tested as-welded joint sample with prior STA condition.
TMAZ, on the other hand, experiences insufficient temperature
and amount of plastic deformation compared to the weld zone to
post-weld direct aged with prior STA condition and much lower undergo dynamic recrystallization [8]. Hence, these two regions
for as-welded joints with prior STA condition. The base material in exhibit different tensile properties due to variation in the average
ST condition showed the highest ductility value due to dissolution grain size and strengthening precipitate distribution as a result of
of all strengthening precipitates in the matrix compared to the difference in high temperature exposure and cooling rates encoun-
base material in STA condition, which exhibited lower ductility tered during the friction welding process [10].
due to double aging leading to precipitation of strengthening Weld zone was stronger than the HAZ region due to fine grain
precipitates (γ0 and γ00 ). microstructure. Pedron and Pineau [25] reported that no change in
High temperature tensile strength of the as-welded joint with the fine grain microstructure after thermal exposure at 650 1C for
prior STA condition is inferior to that of the base material in STA 4 days in IN 718 alloy. HAZ was weaker due to coarser grain size
condition. However, it exhibited higher tensile strength compared and dissolution of strengthening precipitates. Huang et al. [26]
to the base material in ST condition and as-welded joint with prior observed that reduction in the hardness value of IN718 HAZ was
ST condition. The as-welded joint specimen with prior STA condi- due to dissolution of strengthening precipitates (γ00 and γ0 ) in the
tion failed in the HAZ region (Fig. 6) whereas the samples in all inertia friction welding of Alloy 720 Li to IN718. Chamanfar et al. [9]
other welding conditions failed in base material (Table 2). Fig. 7 reported that reduction in hardness at the weld zone and 0.3 mm
shows a TEM micrograph taken near the fracture location of a high away from weld interface due to all the strengthening precipitates
temperature tensile tested as-welded joint specimen with prior were dissolved in the linear friction welding of WASPALOY.
STA condition. It shows a few dislocations. It does not show PWHT was aimed to restore tensile properties of friction weld
strengthening precipitates. This is an evidence to indicate that all joints. PWHT led to higher ultimate tensile strength. After PWHT
the strengthening precipitates dissolved due to high temperature all friction weld joint samples failed in the base material far away
experienced by this portion during friction welding process. HAZ from the weld zone. The fracture surfaces of high temperature
was weaker due to coarser grain size and dissolution of strength- tensile tested samples showed shallow dimples indicating the
ening precipitates and so the failure has occurred in this region. ductile mode of fracture in all the samples (Fig. 8).
The high temperature tensile behavior of welds with different
thermal histories can be related to their microstructural differences. 3.3. Stress rupture test results
Friction weld joint consists of three different regions such as
weld zone, thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) and HAZ. Stress rupture curves of base material and friction weld joints
Weld zone showed equiaxed fine grain microstructure [8]. During in the as-welded as well as PWHT conditions (see Fig. 9 and its
friction welding process, weld zone experienced peak temperature inset (initial portion of curves)) exhibit limited primary and
of 1118 1C (measured by using infrared thermometer) [18], which secondary but predominant tertiary creep regime as also observed
is above the δ solvus temperature (995 1C) [2]. Weld zone cooled in many other engineering alloys [27–31]. Such a creep behavior in
rapidly to room temperature and hence there was no δ phase superalloys [28,29] and other engineering alloys [29,31] is reported
formation. During friction welding process, weld zone undergoes to be due to contribution of several factors such as precipitate
dynamic recrystallization due to severe plastic deformation and coarsening, instability of dislocation substructure, reduction in area
high temperature, which attributes to fine grain microstructure. of cross-section, cavitation (internal loss of cross-section), and
418 R. Damodaram et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 612 (2014) 414–422
Fig. 8. Fractographs of high temperature tensile tested samples: (a) base material in ST condition, (b) base material in STA condition, (c) friction weld joint with prior STA
condition in as-welded condition.
fracture values (Fig. 10) of the alloy for all conditions except strain to
fracture of base material in ST condition, are considerably higher than
the minimum specified values for the alloy 718 (Table 3 and Fig. 10).
The average grain size variation exhibited by the friction weld joint
samples and strengthening precipitates could play a major role in
determining the stress rupture behavior of friction weld joints.
In the case of base material in STA condition, the dark field TEM
micrograph shows change in size of γ00 precipitates from around
21 nm (Fig. 4) to around 79 nm after stress rupture test (Fig. 11). The
size of γ00 strengthening precipitate was significantly increased due to
long time thermal exposure at 650 1C and stress level of 690 MPa.
Slama et al. [32] reported that formation of strengthening precipitates
(γ00 and γ0 ) in alloy 718 depends on volume of Nb, time and
temperature of aging. Aging at 680 1C for 50 h resulted in ample γ00
phase with an average size of 30 nm whereas aging at 680 1C for 100 h
Fig. 9. Variation of strain with time during stress rupture test for base material, and resulted in coarsening of γ00 phase with an average size of 50 nm.
friction weld joints in as-welded condition and after PWHT. As can be seen from Table 3 as well as Figs. 9 and 10, the creep
properties such as MCR and time to rupture of base material in ST
environmental attack (oxidation/sulphidation) [27]. The relative condition, friction weld joints in the as-welded condition with
contribution of these factors to tertiary creep under various condi- prior ST and STA conditions are almost the same, however, fracture
tions has been reported elsewhere [28–30]. The creep/stress rupture strain of the latter two are higher. This may be explained in terms
properties such as minimum creep rate (MCR), rupture time and of microstructural differences between these two conditions.
strain to failure are given in Table 3 and also presented in the form of It may be noted that prior to stress rupture test, no strengthening
bar charts in Fig. 10. The Aerospace Material Specification (AMS) precipitates were present in the base material in ST condition and
demands a minimum rupture life of 23 h and a minimum ductility of friction weld joint sample with prior ST condition. The as-welded
5% for the base material in STA condition (solution treatment at joint sample with prior ST condition failed in the base material.
924 1C to 1010 1C holding at 30 min, air cooling or faster cooling and The dark field TEM micrograph of a sample of base material tested
double aging at 718714 1C/8 h followed by furnace cooling to in ST condition (Fig. 12) shows fine disc shaped strengthening
621714 1C and then aging at 621714 1C/8 h followed by air cooling precipitates which formed in austenite matrix during stress
to room temperature) tested at a stress level of 690 MPa and at rupture test at 650 1C and the average size of γ00 strengthening
649 1C. It is interesting to note that both time to rupture and strain to precipitate is around 32 nm. Before stress rupture test, base
R. Damodaram et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 612 (2014) 414–422 419
Table 3
Stress rupture test results.
S. no. Material Test conditions (temperature(1C)/ Stress rupture Strain to fracture (%) Minimum creep Failure location
initial stress (MPa)) time (h) rate (h 1)
a
AMS 5596 [24].
Fig. 11. Dark field TEM micrograph of base material in STA condition after stress
rupture test.
Fig. 12. Dark field TEM micrograph of base material in ST condition after stress
rupture test revealing the formation of γ0 0 strengthening precipitates.
Fig. 13. Optical micrograph of vertical cross section of a stress rupture tested
Fig. 10. Bar charts showing (a) time to rupture, (b) strain to fracture and as-welded joint sample with prior STA condition.
(c) minimum creep rate properties for base material, friction weld joints in the
as-welded condition and after PWHT.
to application of load and also, further precipitation might have
material in ST condition contained grains without strengthening occurred on dislocations generated due to creep deformation, as
precipitates (Fig. 3). However, precipitation, to some extent, might the dislocations lowers the energy barrier and hence preferential
have taken place during soaking at test temperature (650 1C) prior sites for precipitation to take place.
420 R. Damodaram et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 612 (2014) 414–422
4. Conclusions
The as-welded joint sample with prior STA condition failed in The ultimate tensile strength values for all conditions, expect
the weld zone. The microstructure of the vertical cross section of for base material in ST condition and weld joints with prior ST
the fracture surface of a stress rupture tested weld joint sample or STA in the as-welded condition, were higher than the
with prior STA condition showed fine grain region, which confirms minimum value of 1000 MPa specified by the Aerospace
that the failure occurred at weld zone (Fig. 13). It can be seen that Material Specification for the base material in STA condition.
the stress rupture life and fracture strain of as-welded joint sample The weld joint specimen in the as-welded state with prior STA
with prior STA condition are inferior to those of base material in condition failed in heat affected zone (HAZ). Though strength-
STA condition. This could be attributed to dissolution of strength- ening precipitates (γ00 ) dissolved in weld metal and HAZ during
ening γ00 (Ni3Nb) precipitates in the weld zone in the sample welding, HAZ was weaker than weld metal due to coarser
during welding. During friction welding process, weld zone grains and so failure occurred in HAZ. In all other conditions,
experienced a peak temperature of 1118 1C (measured by using samples failed in base metal.
infrared thermometer) [18]. Dark field TEM micrograph confirms Both time to rupture and strain to fracture values of the alloy for all
formation of strengthening precipitates in the weld zone after conditions except strain to fracture of base material in ST condition,
stress rupture test (Fig. 14). The average size of γ00 strengthening are considerably higher than the minimum values (rupture life of
precipitate was around 32 nm. 23 h and a ductility of 5%) specified by the Aerospace Material
Friction weld joint samples were subjected to PWHT to improve Specification for the base material in STA condition.
stress rupture lives. Samples after PWHT (except STAþ FWþDA The minimum creep rate and time to rupture of the base
sample) showed improvement in stress rupture lives compared to material in ST condition and as-welded joints with prior ST or
as-welded samples and these samples failed in base material. Optical STA condition are almost same.
R. Damodaram et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 612 (2014) 414–422 421
Fig. 17. Fractographs of stress rupture tested samples: (a) base material in ST condition, (b) base material in STA condition, (c) friction weld joint in as-welded condition with
prior ST condition, (d) friction weld joint in as-welded condition with prior STA condition, (e) post-weld direct aged condition with prior STA condition, (f) post-weld STA
with prior STA condition.
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