Dynamic recrystallization during hot compression of Ni-based superalloy Haynes 282

Understanding the microstructural behaviour of materials during thermomechanical processing is a vital step towards optimizing the mechanical properties. One important aspect during forming processes, such as forging, is dynamic recrystallization (DRX), which sets the starting microstructure for the subsequent manufacturing steps. Here we investigated the DRX behaviour of Ni-base superalloy Haynes 282 during hot compression with a strain rate of 0.05 s−1 at 1080 °C, with care taken to minimize the effects of meta-dynamic recrystallization (mDRX) and adiabatic heating. Small DRX grains could be observed already at ε = 0.1, i.e. before the peak strain εp = 0.15. The DRX process accelerated significantly above ε = 0.2, and the material was fully recrystallized at ε = 1.5. Up to ε = 0.8 DRX occurred through continuous nucleation of new grains, whereas above ε = 0.8 the number density of DRX grains decreased and the increase in recrystallized fraction was due to growth of existing grains. Contrary to common assumptions of DRX nuclei being essentially dislocation free, many of the DRX grains contained pronounced dislocation substructures, even at small strains where they are not expected to have undergone deformation.