Progress on modeling and simulation of directional solidification of superalloy turbine blade casting

Directional solidified turbine blades of Ni-based superalloy are widely used as key parts of the gas turbine engines. The mechanical properties of the blade are greatly influenced by the final microstructure and the grain orientation determined directly by the grain selector geometry of the casting. In this paper, mathematical models were proposed for three dimensional simulation of the grain growth and microstructure evolution in directional solidification of turbine blade casting. Ray-tracing method was applied to calculate the temperature variation of the blade. Based on the thermo model of heat transfer, the competitive grain growth within the starter block and the spiral of the grain selector, the grain growth in the blade and the microstructure evolution were simulated via a modified Cellular Automaton method. Validation experiments were carried out, and the measured results were compared quantitatively with the predicted results. The simulated cooling curves and microstructures corresponded well with the experimental results. The proposed models could be used to predict the grain morphology and the competitive grain evolution during directional solidification.