Influence of directional solidification variables on the microstructure and crystal orientation of AM3 under high thermal gradient

Solid–liquid interface morphologies of a nickel-base single crystal superalloy AM3 were investigated under high thermal gradient. The critical velocities of planar–cellular and cellular–dendritic transition were greatly increased by high thermal gradients. A high thermal gradient was of great benefit to dendrite refinement. Experimental results showed that the primary and secondary dendrite arm spacings decreased with increasing cooling rate. As expected, the segregation of elements was suppressed and the size of the gamma prime (γ′) phase decreased significantly with increasing withdrawal rates. The shape of γ′ in interdendritic region kept cuboidal at higher withdrawal rate. It was found that the withdrawal rates had little influence on the crystallographic orientation in high thermal gradient directional solidification.