Influence of Longitudinal Static Magnetic Field on Microstructure and Microsegregation During Directional Solidification of DD98M Alloy

Nickel-based superalloys have been widely used in gas turbines, aerospace, and other fields owing to their excellent high-temperature strength and creep resistance. Advanced directional-solidification techniques allow crystals to grow along specific directions, which can eliminate most or all of the transverse grain boundaries to obtain columnar- or single-crystal superalloys, which further improve the high-temperature mechanical properties. A strong magnetic field can modify the mass-transfer behavior during solidification via magnetic-damping or thermoelectromagnetic effect without contacting the material, thus improving the microstructure and microscopic segregation. In order to further refine the microstructure of nickel-based single crystal superalloys and improve the degree of homogenization of element distribution, the influence of longitudinal static magnetic field with a magnetic field intensity (B) that ranges from 0 to 4 T on the microstructure and microsegregation of liquid-metal-cooling directionally solidified nickel-based single-crystal superalloy DD98M was investigated. OM and SEM were applied to characterize the microstructure. Microsegregation was evaluated using a microsegregation coefficient and isoconcentration contour maps based on different data collection modes embedded in EDS. The results showed that with an increase in B, the primary dendrite spacing, average size of gamma/gamma' eutectic organization, and size of the gamma' phases decreased. Meanwhile, the gamma' phase in the interdendrite became more regularized. The microstructure refinement under static magnetic fields was attributed to the decrease in Delta T' / G (ratio of the temperature difference between the nonequilibrium solid-phase line and dendrite tip to the temperature gradient based on the Kurz-Fisher model) or the increase in sub-cooling of the melt surrounding the dendrites due to thermoelectric-magnetic convection. The relationship between Delta T' / G and B was revealed. The reduction in the gamma' phase size was caused by the increase in the nucleation rate of the gamma' phase due to the introduction of magnetic free energy difference (Delta G(M)) under a magnetic field. The magnetic field depressed the microsegregation of solutes, i.e., as B increased, the segregations of Al, Ta, Co, and W decreased. The effective partition coefficient (k(e)) of the dendritic scale and the average effective partition coefficients of the dendritic and interdendritic areas were obtained. It was found that the decrease in macrosegregation was essentially due to the effective distribution coefficient that approached 1 that due to the magnetic field.