Elemental Partitioning Characteristics of Equilibrium Phases in Inconel 718 Alloy at 600–1100 °C Original Research Article

The optimization of heat treatment and chemical composition for Inconel 718 alloy has been investigated uninterruptedly because of its excellent mechanical properties and metallurgical workability. The species, chemical compositions and content of equilibrium phases of Inconel 718 alloy in the temperature range of 600−2014;1100 °C were calculated by using thermodynamic software “Thermo-Calc” and the latest relevant datebase of Ni-base superalloys. A concept of elemental partitioning fraction was used to study the partitioning characteristics of alloying elements in each equilibrium phase at different temperatures, such as Ni, Cr, Fe, Nb, Mo, Al, Ti and C, and some calculation results were confirmed under a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). The results showed that the elemental partitioning characteristics with the change of temperature revealed the selective partitioning characteristic of alloying elements in equilibrium phases at different temperatures, such as Nb was mainly distributed in δ and γ′ phase, C in carbides, Al and Ti in γ′ phase and Cr, Mo in Laves phase. At the same time, the effect of the change of component and quantity for each precipitated phase on matrix phase can be helpfully understood, which provided a theoretic foundation to optimize the chemical composition and heat treatment in different environments for Inconel 718 alloy.