微重力条件下单晶合金的凝固生长

Growth of Single Crystal Alloy under Microgravity Condition

单晶合金由于没有晶界缺陷而具有特殊的理化性能,如镍基单晶高温合金是先进航空航天发动机和燃气涡轮发动机关键材料,具有优异的高温使役性能。单晶合金的特色结构决定了它只能通过凝固的方式获得,因而凝固过程对单晶合金的组织结构、成分分布乃至理化性能具有难以磨灭的影响。如以枝晶结构为主要特征的单晶合金中的枝晶结构参数、合金元素的宏观与微观偏析都与凝固过程参数(如凝固速度、温度梯度等)密切相关。研究表明,重力导致的各项效应(如浮力对流、沉降和流体静压等)直接或间接地影响凝固过程参数,并且是导致成分偏析和凝固缺陷的重要原因。但在常规地面条件下由于无法有效去除重力影响,因而难以清晰揭示凝固过程中的重力效应及其作用规律。而在微重力环境中,这一难题将迎刃而解。因此,近些年来国内外一些学者利用空间或模拟微重力环境,对重力对单晶凝固行为的影响及其在缺陷形成中的作用进行了研究。这些研究对于获得良好的单晶凝固组织、避免凝固缺陷的形成,以及提高单晶合金的质量和性能都有着重要的意义。综述了目前国内外微重力下单晶生长研究的相关进展,并对未来研究进行了展望。

Without grain boundary defects, single crystal alloys possess special physical and chemical properties, e.g. as key materials for advanced aerospace engines and gas turbine engines, Ni-based single crystal superalloys have excellent high temperature performance. The characteristics of single crystal alloys determine they can only be obtained by means of solidification and therefore, the solidification process has enduring influence on microstructure, composition distribution as well as physical and chemical properties of single crystal alloys. For instance, as dendritic structure being the main characteristics, dendritic parameters as well as macro and micro element segregation of single crystal alloy are closely related with the solidification process parameters, such as solidification speed, temperature gradient and so on. Researches show that, the effects caused by gravity, such as buoyancy convection, sedimentation and hydrostatic pressure etc., directly or indirectly affect the solidification process parameters, and become the important causes leading to the composition segregation and solidification defects. However, the effect of gravity cannot be effectively removed under conventional terrestrial condition, and it is difficult to clearly reveal the gravity effects in the process of solidification and their mechanisms. Hopefully, this problem will be solved under microgravity environments. Therefore, in recent years, taking advantage of space or simulated micrugravity environments, the gravity effects on single crystal solidification behavior and their roles in the course of defects forming were studied by domestic and international scholars. These researches are of great significance for obtaining better single crystal solidification microstructure, avoiding the formation of solidification defects as well as improving the quality and performance of single crystal alloys. This paper reviews the recent domestic and international research progress on single crystal growth under microgravity as well as prospects for future researches.