Development History

Nickel-based superalloys (hereinafter referred to as nickel-based alloys) were developed in the late 1930s. Britain first produced the nickel-based alloy Nimonic 75 (Ni-20Cr-0.4Ti) in 1941; in order to increase the creep strength, aluminum was added, and Nimonic 80 (Ni-20Cr-2.5Ti-1.3Al) was developed. The United States in the mid-1940s, the Soviet Union in the late 1940s, and China in the mid-1950s also developed nickel-based alloys. The development of nickel-based alloys includes two aspects: the improvement of alloy composition and the innovation of production technology. In the early 1950s, the development of vacuum melting technology created conditions for the refining of nickel-based alloys containing high aluminum and titanium. Most of the initial nickel-based alloys were deformed alloys. In the late 1950s, due to the increase in the working temperature of turbine blades, alloys were required to have higher high-temperature strength. However, the higher the strength of the alloy, it was difficult or even impossible to deform. Therefore, investment casting technology was used to develop a series of good Cast alloy with high temperature strength. In the mid-1960s, oriented crystalline and single crystal superalloys and powder metallurgy superalloys with better performance were developed. In order to meet the needs of ships and industrial gas turbines, a number of high-chromium nickel-based alloys with better thermal corrosion resistance and stable structure have been developed since the 1960s. In about 40 years from the early 1940s to the late 1970s, the working temperature of nickel-based alloys increased from 700°C to 1100°C, an average annual increase of about 10°C.