Repair and manufacturing of single crystal Ni-based superalloys components by laser powder deposition—A review

Laser powder deposition is one of the most promising methods for the repairing of the single crystal Ni-based superalloys components used in the hot-section of gas turbine engines in order to extend their lifetime and reduce their overall cost. The microstructure of Ni-based superalloys deposited on single crystal substrates of similar materials depends mainly on the materials involved, on the orientation of the deposited tracks in relation to the substrate and on the deposition parameters. In the present paper these relations are discussed and illustrated for the case of single and multiple layer depositions of NiCrAlY and Rene N4 on (100) single crystal substrates of SRR99 and CMSX-4 Ni-based superalloys. On the other hand, when the aging treatment is applied directly to the solidification microstructure resulting from laser deposition, abnormal γ/γ′ microstructures may result, due to the inhomogeneity created by alloying elements partition during solidification. Performing a homogenization annealing before aging circumvents this difficulty. The homogenizing annealing also eliminates undesirable brittle phases present in the solidification microstructure, such as carbides and topologically close-packed compounds.