Comparative study of IN600 superalloy produced by two powder metallurgy technologies: Argon Atomizing and Plasma Rotating Electrode Process

Two type products of IN600 alloy powders fabricated by Argon Atomizing (AA) and Plasma Rotating Electrode Process (PREP) were compared, in terms of microstructure, sphericity of powder, defects and mechanical properties. The interior morphology of AAed IN600 powder was mainly composed of cellular dendrites, and the dendrites were discontinuous and disordered. While, the interior morphology of PREPed IN600 powder was mainly composed of dendritic dendrites. The granularity of AAed IN600 powder ranged from 40 to 150 μm, in comparison that of PREPed IN600 powder ranged from 70 to 130 μm. The sphericity of PREPed powder particles were better than that of AAed powder particles. Large hollow powders existed in AAed IN600 alloy powder, while PREPed IN600 alloy powder did not exist. The AAed and PREPed IN600 alloy both exhibit equivalent tensile strength and yield strength after hot isostatic pressing and same heat treatment condition, but the section shrinkage rate of PREPed alloy (15.5%) was higher than that of AAed alloy (14.6%), indicating that the plasticity of PREPed IN600 alloy was better than that of AAed IN600 alloy.