Elastic Properties and Determination of Elastic Constants of Nickel-base Superalloys by a Free-free Beam Technique

The elastic properties of several monocrystalline and textured Nickel-base alloys were determined as a function of orientation in single crystals and of direction in textured materials by a dynamic resonance technique between 20°C and 1200°C. For the quantitative description of the elastic behavior of anisotropic solids the elastic single crystal constants, the texture, and the orientation are needed. The texture of polycrystalline materials is described by the orientation distribution function (ODF). In single crystals the orientation is given by the Eulerian angles. The determination of the elastic constants from single crystal measurements by a regression and a Finite Element (FE) method is shown in this paper to be very accurate. A new regression method allows the determination of single crystal elastic constants from strongly textured materials. This method is based on the measured elastic moduli in different directions with regard to the direction of rolling, growth or recrystallization. The evaluation of the elastic constants by regression and FE methods and the results for several Nickelbase superalloys are presented and discussed.