Correlation of precipitate evolution with Vickers hardness in Haynes® 282® superalloy: In-situ high-energy SAXS/WAXS investigation

The aim of this work is to characterize the precipitation kinetics in Haynes® 282® superalloys using in-situ high-energy Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) together with Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS). The phases identified by WAXS include γ (matrix), γ′ (hardening precipitates), MC (metallic carbides), and M23C6/M6C (secondary metallic carbides). The γ'-precipitates are spheroids with a diameter of several nanometres, depending on the temperature and ageing time. From the SAXS data, quantitative parameters such as volume fraction, number density and inter-particle distance were determined and correlated with ex-situ Vickers microhardness measurements. The strengthening components associated with precipitates and solid solutions are differentiated using the measured Vickers microhardness and SAXS model parameters. A square root dependence between strengthening attributable to the precipitates and the product of volume fraction and mean precipitate radius is found. The solid solution strengthening component correlates with the total volume fraction of precipitates.