Dentritic morphology and microsegregation in directionally solidified superalloy, PWA-1480, single crystal: Effect of gravity; center director's discretionary fund report

Primary dendrite spacings, secondary dendrite spacings, and microsegregation have been examined in PWA-1480 single crystal specimens which were directionally solidified during parabolic maneuvers on the KC-135 aircraft. Experimentally observed growth rate and thermal gradient dependence of primary dendrite spacings are in good agreement with predictions from dendrite growth models for binary alloys. Secondary dendrite coarsening kinetics show a reasonable fit with the predictions from an analytical model proposed by Kirkwood for a binary alloy. The partition coefficients of tantalum, titanium, and aluminum are observed to be less than unity, while that for tungsten and cobalt are greater than unity. This is qualitatively similar to the nickel base binaries. Microsegregation profiles experimentally observed for PWA-1480 superalloy show a good fit with Bower, Brody, and Flemings model developed for binary alloys. Transitions in gravity levels do not appear to affect primary dendrite spacings. A trend of decreased secondary arm spacings with transition from high gravity to the low gravity period was observed at a growth speed of 0.023 cm s(exp -1). However, definite conclusions can only be drawn by experiments at lower growth speeds which make it possible to examine the side-branch coarsening kinetics over a longer duration. Such experiments, not possible due to the insufficient low-gravity time of the KC-135, may be carried out in the low-gravity environment of space.