Solidification characteristics and hot tearing susceptibility of Ni-based superalloys for turbocharger turbine wheel

The solidification characteristics and the hot tearing susceptibility were investigated on two Ni-based superalloys for turbocharger turbine wheel, K418 and K419. The segregation behaviors of the alloying elements and the precipitation phases were also studied. The results show that the solidification behavior of K419 alloy is complicated when compared with K418 due to the interdendritic segregation of many kinds of strong interdendritic partitioning elements in the remaining liquid at the final stage of solidification. The segregation of multiple elements in interdendritic liquid results in an extremely low solidus in K419. A long residual liquid stage is found during the solidification of K419, giving rise to reduced cohesion strength of dendrites and increased sensitivity to hot tearing. A hot tearing susceptibility coefficient (HTS) criterion is proposed based on a hot tearing sensitive model. The HTS value of K419 alloy is larger than that of K418 alloy.