Hot deformation characteristics and hot working window of as-cast large-tonnage GH3535 superalloy ingot

Abstract Deformation characteristics and range of optimized hot working parameters of a 6.5 tons GH3535 superalloy ingot with an average columnar grain size of over 1 mm in diameter were investigated. Axial compression experiments were performed in temperature range of 900–1240 °C and strain rate range of 0.001–30 s−1 at a total strain of 0.8. The hot deformation activation energy of the experimental GH3535 alloy is calculated to be 483.22 kJ/mol. Furthermore, the deformation constitutive equation is established by the peak stresses obtained from the stress-strain curves under various conditions. The hot working window of the alloy ingot at a strain of 0.8 can be preliminarily discussed based on the deformed microstructures and processing maps. The optimized hot working window was thus determined at the strain of 0.95 for 6.5 tons GH3535 alloy ingot by the supplementary compression tests. A large-size GH3535 superalloy ring with a dimension of Φ3010 mm × 410 mm was ultimately manufactured.