Source: INL.gov
Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory have discovered how to extend the useful life of superalloys by thousands of hours by employing a unique recipe of heating and cooling to create a microstructure that can withstand extreme heat. The discovery could improve materials performance for electrical generators and nuclear reactors.
An excerpt:
“The key is to heat and cool the superalloy in a specific way. That creates a microstructure within the material that can withstand high heat more than six times longer than an untreated counterpart.”
“We came up with a way to make a superalloy that is much more resistant to heat-related failures. This could be useful in electricity generators and elsewhere,” said Subhashish Meher, an INL materials scientist, lead author of a new Science Advances paper describing the research.
Read more: “Treated Superalloys Demonstrate Unprecedented Heat Resistance”
Photo credit and caption: INL.gov/”INL materials scientist Subhashish Meher uses a local electron atom probe at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies to study the microstructure of treated superalloys.”
