recovery of inconel738 superalloy from used gas turbine blades by esr method

in this study, attempts were made to recovery the used turbine blades made up of inconel738 by electro slag remelting (esr) method. using an appropriate slag and addition of metallic aluminum, the original composition was maintained and the amount of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen remained in the acceptable level. in order to explore the effect of remelting with esr on the microstructure, tensile properties and age hardening behavior of the investigated alloy, the as-cast and wrought samples were solution treated at 1120 °c and aged at 845 °c for different lengths of time. the results showed that the microstructure, tensile properties and age hardening behavior of esr melted inconel738 are similar to corresponding standard values and hence, the esr method was found appropriate to be used to recovery the inconel738 alloy from the used turbine blades.