Re-heat treatment effect on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Inconel 706 alloy for repair

Although the understanding of microstructure and mechanical property changes in re-heat-treated Inconel alloys is important to evaluate the performance of repaired components, recent research has mainly focused on the heat treatment effect of as-fabricated products. Thus, in this work, the performance change of the used Inconel 706 rotor-disks under varying re-heat treatment conditions was investigated. Because of the heat exposure of the used rotor-disk component, a high fraction of plate-like η phase (6.36%) and compact γ'/γ'' co-precipitate structure were initiated in the as-received sample. After re-heat treatment, η phase dissolution breakage and compact to non-compact γ'/γ'' co-precipitate structure transition occur, resulting in mechanical properties changes of the Inconel 706 alloy. As a result, η phase fraction affects the tensile strength and ductility of Inconel 706 alloy, while the non-compact γ'/γ'' co-precipitate structure in the matrix degrades the creep lifetime. These results indicate that re-heat treatment during the repair of operated components induces microstructural and mechanical properties changes. However, to investigate the detailed history of used Inconel 706 components, additional research on the microstructural degradation during operation of Inconel components is required

Effect of heat treatment conditions on the plastic deformation behavior of the Inconel 706 alloy

Although the Inconel 706 alloy has been developed to reduce the manufacturing cost for mass production, the effect of post-heat treatment on the deformation mechanisms of this alloy system has not been well investigated yet. In this study, the effect of heat treatment conditions on the plastic deformation behavior of the Inconel 706 alloy was analyzed. The size of the coherent γ'/γ'' co-precipitates in the sample subjected to 3-step aging (3STEP) is larger than that in the sample subjected to 2-step aging (2STEP). However, the yield strength of 3STEP is lower than that of 2STEP due to the precipitate-free zone near its η phase which reduces the volume fraction of the γ'/γ'' co-precipitates. The coarsened η phase in 3STEP also acts as a crack initiation site, inducing intergranular fracture. Meanwhile, serrated flows were observed in the tensile stress-strain curve of 2STEP tested at a high temperature condition, which resulted in ductility degradation. The present result indicates that the different heat treatment conditions for the Inconel 706 alloy affect the morphology of the precipitate in the matrix, which can be attributed to their deformation behaviors