Evolution of Microstructure and Mechanical Property during Long-Term Aging in Udimet 720Li

Thermal stabilities of microstructure and mechanical property have been investigated on super- alloy U72OLi, which is of great interest of application for jet engine and land-based turbine disc. The results showed that, the primary and secondary γ’?particles maintain good thermal stability at 650 and 7000C with aging time up to 3000 h, while the tertiary γ’?is apparently dependent on aging temperature and time. The tertiary γ’?particles undergo a procedure of coarsening, dissolution and eventually complete disappearance with the increasing of aging time and temper- ature. They exhibit unusual high sensibility upon aging temperature, which is attributed to the lattice misfit between the γ’?precipitates and the matrix in the alloy. The grain boundary phase M23C6 remains stable without forming of sigma phase even with aging time up to 3000 h at 700℃. Microhardness decreases apparently with increasing aging time and aging temperature. Theoretical analysis based on dislocation mechanism indicates that the change of microhardness should be attributed to the evolution of the tertiary γ’?during aging.