High temperature deformation behavior of Inconel 718 at temperatures reaching into the mushy zone

The mechanical response of Inconel 718 with various microstructures (cast directionally-solidified, cast random dendritic, and equiaxed non-dendritic) in the solid and semi-solid state has been characterized. The activation energy for plastic flow in the solid phase was in good agreement with the activation energies for self diffusion and creep in pure nickel and pure iron. When the dendrites were aligned along the compression axis, the directionally solidified materials exhibited a similar activation energy for plastic flow, even at temperatures within the mushy zone. However, in samples containing either the random dendritic or equiaxed non-dendritic microstructures in the semi-solid state, the deformation exhibited a greater dependence on temperature. A simple analysis indicates that this greater temperature dependence is simply a consequence of the transition from plastic flow in the solid to viscous flow in the liquid as the fraction liquid increases (i.e., lubricated flow of the grains due to intergranular liquid in the mushy zone).; The deformation behavior is compared against a number of investigations from the literature and a general constitutive equation relating peak now stress versus temperature compensated strain rate is presented. The temperature compensated strain rate is often termed the Zener-Holloman parameter, Z=e&d2;exp &parl0;QRT&parr0; , where e&d2; is the strain rate, T is the temperature, R is the gas constant, and Q is the activation energy for plastic flow. The results obtained in this investigation for solid state deformation were in good agreement with published literature values and extended the experimental range to higher temperatures and lower strain rates.