Influence of particle mechanisms on kinetics of grain growth in a P/M superalloy

The current literature reports the quantitative analysis of the kinetics of grain growth influenced by second-phase particle mechanisms for a powder metallurgy nickel-base superalloy: APK-6. Annealing treatments in the superalloy are shown to involve coarsening/dissolution of gamma' particles, and these particles mechanisms are shown to influence the kinetics of grain growth. The grain-growth exponent, n, is computed, and the gamma'-solvus temperature of the superalloy is determined to lie between 220 and 270degreesC. The kinetic data is interpreted to establish dependence of gamma' particles coarsening/dissolution mechanisms, grain size, gamma'-solvus temperature, and annealing time and temperature on the rates of grain growth in the superalloy.