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APPLICATIONS OF THERMO-CALC

Nickel

Thermo-Calc can be used to predict thermophysical and phase-based properties as well as to simulate material behavior throughout the materials life cycle for a wide range of Ni- and Ni-based superalloys.

Applications to Nickel

Ni-based alloys and superalloys are complex materials that typically contain 10 or more alloying elements. The properties of these alloys are very sensitive to the variation in chemistry, which can be difficult to capture for multicomponent alloys. These properties also strongly depend on the thermal history and precipitation of phases such as γ′ and γ″.

Experiments and handbook data cannot take into account all possible variations in chemistry and processing conditions. Thermo-Calc can simulate these effects to fill in data gaps and make predictions of material behavior throughout the materials life cycle.

Calculate the following based on your actual alloy chemistry:

  • Thermophysical properties, such as:
    • Specific heat, enthalpy, latent heat, viscosity, density as a function of temperature, coefficients of thermal expansion, γ/γ′ lattice mismatch, and more
    • Phase-based properties, such as:
      • Critical transformation temperatures such as γ/γ′, amounts and compositions of phases, solubility limits, activities, phase diagrams, and more
        • Solvus temperatures and volume fractions of phases such as δ, σ, η, γ′,γ″, and carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides
          • Partitioning of alloying elements between γ and γ′
          • Equilibrium and non-equilibrium solidification, such as:
            • Liquidus, solidus, incipient melt temperatures, freezing range, fraction solid curves, solidification path, fraction eutectic, microsegregation, partition coefficients, latent heat, shrinkage, and more
            • Homogenization:
              • Optimal homogenization temperatures, time needed to homogenize any chemical segregation arising from solidification, and/or dissolve precipitates
              • Precipitation hardening:
                • Concurrent nucleation, growth/dissolution, coarsening of precipitate phases, volume fraction, and size distribution as a function of time
                • Interdiffusion between coatings and substrates:
                  • Diffusion in ordered γ′ and B2 phases

Application Examples

Thermo-Calc has many applications to Ni-based alloys. Below are two such examples.

High Temperature Coating Degradation

Ni-based superalloys have excellent strength and creep resistance, but in many applications a protective coating is required for high temperature oxidation resistance. During service, the coating degrades mainly due to the interdiffusion between the coating and substrate. It is, therefore, important to be able to study the interdiffusion fluxes occurring between the coating and substrate in order to optimize the lifetime of the coating in a specific application.

This figure shows the interdiffusion between a NiAl coating on IN939 at 1050 °C after 96 hours simulated using the Diffusion Module (DICTRA). The calculation is compared to experimental data from E. Perez, T. Patterson and Y. Sohn, J. Phase Equilibria and Diffusion 27 (2006), pp. 659-64.

A plot showing the interdiffusion between a NiAl coating on IN939 at 1050°C after 96 hours simulated using the Diffusion Module (DICTRA), compared to experimental data.

Variation in Solidus Temperature for Alloy 718

Understanding the melting temperature in Ni-base alloys is critical for casting, welding and additive processes. However, the melting temperature of an alloy can be sensitive to its actual chemistry. Handbooks and material data sheets typically only specify a nominal value for the melting range. Thermo-Calc can be used to explore the entire chemistry specification range and its effect on the liquidus and solidus temperatures.

This figure shows the variation in solidus temperature calculated for 1000 compositions that fall within the alloy 718 specification range. Similar diagrams can be calculated for other properties, such as γ′ solvus temperature or volume fraction of eutectic.

A histogram showing the variation in solidus temperature calculated for 1000 compositions that fall within the alloy 718 specification range.

Learn more about Applications to Ni-based Alloys

Coupling TQ-Interface with Precipitation Models for Gas Turbine Applications

DICTRA used to model changes to Ni-based superalloy during Interdiffusion

Weldability of Nickel-based Alloys: Solving Problems with the Assistance of Computational Techniques

Application of finite element, phase-field, and CALPHAD-based methods to additive manufacturing of Ni-based superalloys

Design of an Eta-Phase Precipitation-Hardenable Nickel-Based Alloy with the Potential for Improved Creep Strength Above 1023 K (750 °C)

Effect of the Process Atmosphere Composition on Alloy 718 Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Modeling the precipitation processes and the formation of hierarchical microstructures in a single crystal high entropy superalloy

Thermodynamic and Kinetic Simulation of the Brazing Process Applied to Ni-Base Superalloys

Elevated temperature microstructure evolution of a medium-entropy CrCoNi superalloy containing Al,Ti

Computational design of a single crystal nickel-based superalloy with improved specific creep endurance at high temperature

Simulation of TTT Curves for Additively Manufactured Inconel 625

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