Hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of GH625 superalloy tube during extrusion process

Flow behavior and microstructures of GH625 superalloy were investigated by hot compression tests. Then the GH625 superalloy tube was hot extruded according to the hot deformation behavior, and the microstructures of different position of extruded tube was also analyzed. The results show that the actual deformation temperature of the specimen deformed at a strain rate of 10.0s(-1) is higher than the preset temperature, resulting in a deformation thermal effect. Thus, the microstructure evolution of GH625 superalloy is controlled both by the strain rate and deformation temperature. It is also found that the GH625 superalloy tube can be successfully fabricated with a stable extrusion speed of 40 mm-s(-1), extrusion ratio of 4.1 and preheating temperature of 1200 degrees C. The microstructure of extruded tube was obviously fined due to the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization(DRX). Different degrees of DRX were observed in outer wall, center and inner wall of the tube, which is similar to that in the head, middle and tail of the tube. An extruded tube containing fully DRX grains can be obtained by cutting the head and tail of the tube, and machining a small amount of the inner wall.