Partitioning of tramp elements Cu and Si in a Ni-based superalloy and their effect on creep properties

An alloy's processing history, including melting, remelting or the choice of stock material, affects its purity and eventually involves tramp element pickup or retention. In this investigation, variants of a novel Ni-based superalloy were manufactured with different levels of purity. The so-called low purity alloys contained 0.138 wt. % Cu and 0.019 wt. % Si while the Cu and Si levels were below x-ray fluorescence (XRF) detection limits of 0.003 and 0.010 wt. %, respectively, in the high purity ingots. Atom-probe tomography (APT) was carried out and revealed Si partitioning at the following interfaces: grain boundaries, MC carbide/gamma, M3B2 boride/gamma and M3B2 boride/gamma'. Copper was found to primarily segregate to the gamma' precipitates. An average of 2.4 xdecrease in creep life and 4.3 xdecrease in creep ductility was measured in the low purity alloys, which was attributed to the embrittlement caused by Si segregation to grain boundaries. Furthermore, the positive effect of B on the creep properties was mitigated by the presence of Si. Thermodynamic predictions for the matrix and gamma' precipitate compositions represented the trends observed experimentally although the extent of preferential partitioning lacks accuracy. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to describe the partitioning of Cu and Si atoms to either gamma or gamma' phases.