Thermal parameters determination of Co-Al-W as-cast alloy homogenization by DTA analysis

The gamma-gamma' Co-based superalloys are newly developed class of refractory alloys which may replace commercial Ni-based superalloys owing to their favorable properties at high temperature. In case of new Co-based superalloys, the heat treatment aims to obtain microstructure composed of appropriate volume fraction of small cuboidal gamma'-Co-3(Al, W) precipitates within the gamma-Co matrix. However, due to a high tendency to interdendritic segregations of alloying elements, the alloys based on Co-Al-W system should be normally homogenized before further steps of heat treatment (solutionizing and aging). In this study, thermal analysis was applied for determination of temperature range for primary heat treatment of the Co-9Al-9W (at.%). The differential thermal analysis (DTA) measurements were carried out on the thermal analyzer NETZSCH STA 449 F3 Jupiter. On the base of obtained results, respectively, solvus of gamma' phase and solidus temperatures were determined, as well as the thermal range of Co3W (DO19) phase precipitation. As a consequence, the heat treatment without homogenizing (only solution and aging) was proposed as a most suitable way to obtain beneficial microstructure.