Fatigue-induced phase formation and its deformation behavior in a cobalt-based superalloy

The low-cycle fatigue behavior of a cobalt-based superalloy was studied in situ using neutron-diffraction experiments. The alloy exhibited stress-induced formation of a hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) phase within its parent face-centered-cubic (fcc) phase at ambient temperature under strain-controlled fatigue conditions with a total strain range, Delta epsilon-2.5%. The (101) hcp peak was first observed during the 12(th) fatigue cycle under the given conditions following a period during which no hcp phase was detected. Subsequently, the intensity of the hcp peaks increased as fatigue progressed. Furthermore, within a single fatigue cycle, the intensity of the (101) hcp peak decreased during the compression half-cycle and increased again when the specimen was subjected to a subsequent tensile strain. The result suggests that the fcc to hcp transformation is partially reversible within one fatigue cycle. (c) 2005 International Centre for Diffraction Data.