Abstract
To solve the problems of processing Inconel 617 alloy at high temperatures, the hot deformation behavior of forged Inconel 617 at high temperature was studied. A Gleeble-3500 instrument was used to analyze the thermoplastic behavior in the temperature range of 900~1200 °C and strain rate range of 0.001~10
Science Press
Inconel 617 is a nickel-based solid solution strengthened superalloy with nickel, chromium, cobalt, aluminum, and molybdenum as the main elements. It displays high creep strength and good corrosion resistance. Due to the presence of chromium and aluminum in the alloy, a protective oxide layer is formed on the alloy surface, which enhances its anti-oxidation property. Inconel 617 can be used in a wide range of applications in aerospace, nuclear power, boilers, steam parts and other fields. It has good thermal processing performance similar to Inconel 625, and can be processed by cold processing with the standard production method. However, it requires intermediate annealing. Its welding performance is also very good, and compared with Inconel 625 it shows clear advantages in some performance characteristic
Thermal deformation is a critical step for the study of nickel-based superalloys due to their high resistance to degradation and uneven content of the precipitated phase. Chen et al
There are few researches on the hot deformation behavior of the Inconel 617 alloy, especially on the hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of forged Inconel 617 alloy. Therefore, this work focused on the experimental investigation of the behavior, especially its microstructural evolution, of the Inconel 617 alloy during the process of hot deformation. Using Inconel 617 as the research object, we performed hot compression experiments at 900, 1000, 1100, and 1200 °C and at the strain rates of 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10
Inconel 617 provided by Jinchuan Nickel Alloy Co., Ltd, was used in this work. The chemical composition of this alloy is shown in
The dimensions of the samples used in the experiments are Φ8 mm×12 mm. A Gleeble-3500 thermal simulation instrument was used to conduct the hot compression experi-ments at the temperatures of 900, 1000, 1100 and 1200 °C and strain rates of 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10

Fig.1 Original microstructure of sample
After the hot compression experiment, the compressed material was cut by a cutting machine, emery of different grades was used for metallographic grinding and polishing, and then the sample was corroded by aqua regia to observe the microstructure. Finally, EBSD measurements were performed to characterize the microstructure orientation.

Fig.2 True stress-strain curves under different deformation temperatures and different strain rates: (a) 0.001
Some curves exhibit sharp fluctuations that are caused by the alternation of the softening due to recrystallization and grain growth at high temperatures and the hardening caused by the re-deformation of the recrystallized grains. Before the stress reaches the peak value, the work hardening effect is dominated. As the amount of deformation continues to increase, the dislocation density continues to rise. After a certain amount of deformation, the deformation storage energy becomes the driving force in the recrystallization process, giving rise to dynamic recrystallization. The softening effect gradually plays an increasingly pronounced role until the hardening effect strength caused by deformation and softening effect strength caused by recrystallization become equal, so the flow stress tends to a stable value and the curve enters into the steady state stage.
At small strain rates, the rheological curve decreases to a stable value more rapidly after reaching the peak, while at high strain rates such as 1 and 10
During thermal deformation, both deformation and temperature rise will occur in metal materials; this is known as the adiabatic temperature rise effect and is closely related to the strain rate. Currently, the adiabatic temperature rise effect of metal materials during the thermal compression process is generally studied using
(1) |
(2) |
where δ is the adiabatic factor that is a function of the deformation rate, as given in

Fig.3 Adiabatic temperature rise diagram during hot compression of Inconel 617 alloy
The constitutive equation is used to describe the relationship between the flow stress and the strain of the material during deformation. Rheological stress and strain, strain rate, and temperature are related by the constitutive equation
(3) |
where Z is the Zener-Hollomon parameter that relates the strain rate and the temperature to the strain-stress behavior of the material, Q is the deformation activation energy of the material that measures the degree of the high-temperature deformation, A is a constant, R is the gas constant that is equal to 8.314 J/mol, and T is the deformation temperature. The equivalent strain rate, f(σ), for the rheological stress function according to the stress level has the following three forms, given by Eq.(
ασ<0.8 | (4) |
ασ>1.2 | (5) |
For all stress | (6) |
where K1, K2, and K are constants, n is the stress index, α=β/n, and the optimized α value is generally between 0.01 and 0.016.
Taking logarithm on both sides of Eq.(
(7) |
(8) |
(9) |
It is observed from

Fig.4 Relationship between the peak stress and strain rate during high-temperature compression of the Inconel 617 alloy: (a) and (b)
For a given temperature, partial differentiation of
(10) |
The relationship between and ln[sinh(ασ)]-

Fig.5 Relationship between (a) and ln[sinh(ασ)]-
From
(11) |
Examination of the data presented in
(12) |
Therefore, the deformation activation energy Q can be calculated as 502.861 03 kJ/mol.
For Eq (9), it is observed that when T is fixed, The average of the reciprocal slope of line is n, and the linear intercept is [Q/(RT)-lnK]/n, and n and K can be obtained, with n=4.82
=2.663 91×1
×exp(-502.861 03/RT) | (13) |
To verify the accuracy of the constitutive equation, the peak stress values calculated under different strain rates and temperatures are compared to the experimental results in

Fig.6 Comparison of the theoretical peak stress and experimental peak stress
The processing diagram describes the degree of deformation that the metal material can achieve without being destroyed under the action of external forces in the process of plastic deformation. The working diagram provides a measure of the processing quality and metal plastic forming ability that is an important property for applicatio
(14) |
The region with the negative value represents the instability region. The physical meaning of this equation is as follows: if the system cannot generate entropy at a rate greater than the strain rate applied on the system, the system will produce rheological instability. The strain rate sensitivity index can be obtained from the stress-strain data obtained by thermal compression, and then the dissipated power can be obtained according to:
η=J/Jmax=2m/(m+1) | (15) |
The instability diagram and dissipation diagram were drawn, and then were superimposed to form the processing diagram.

Fig.7 Heat working diagrams of Inconel 617 under the strains of 0.2 (a), 0.4 (b), and 0.6 (c)
Analysis of the processing diagram at the strain of 0.6 shows two obvious instability regions; the first region is the buckling area in the temperature range of 900~1075 °C and the strain rate range of 0.1~10
Some researchers believe that the high temperature and unstable area is a “pseudo-unstable area
The thermal deformation process has an important influence on the evolution of the grains. As shown in

Fig.8 Average grain diameter (a) and grain aspect ratio (b) at different temperatures
The evolution of microstructure of the Inconel 617 alloy was analyzed to verify the accuracy of the processing map, EBSD measurements were performed for the samples compressed at the same strain rate under different temperatures using the HKL-Channel 5 analysis software, and the grain size distribution results were obtained under different conditions of dynamic recrystallization, as shown in

Fig.9 Dynamic recrystallization behavior of Inconel 617 alloy during hot compression at different strain rates: (a) 0.001
(c) 0.1

Fig.10 Dynamic recrystallization behavior of Inconel 617 alloy during hot compression at different temperatures: (a) 1000 °C, (b) 1100 °C, and (c) 1200 °C
1) The constitutive equation of forged Inconel 617 alloy within 900~1200 °C and 0.001~10
2) When the strain rate is high, the effect of the adiabatic temperature rise on the deformation cannot be ignored, and the maximum temperature rise can reach 70 °C. When the strain rate is lower than 0.01
3) With the increase in the temperature, the grain tends to grow, which is also closely related to the increasing degree of recrystallization. However, when the strain rate is small, the grain size first decreases and then increases. The grain aspect ratio increases overall and is closest to that of equiaxed grain at 1100 °C. With the increase in the strain rate, the degree of recrystallization first increases and then decreases, and the grain size and aspect ratio roughly decrease.
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