Precipitate Contribution to the Acoustic Nonlinearity in Nickel-Based Superalloy

The influence of γ' precipitate on the acoustic nonlinearity is investigated for a nickel-based superalloy, which is subjected to creep deformation. During creep deformation, the cuboidal γ' precipitate is preferentially coarsened in a direction perpendicular to the applied stress axis. The length and shape factor of the γ' precipitate increase with creep time. The increase of relative acoustic nonlinearity with increasing fraction of creep life is discussed in relation to the rafting of γ' precipitate, which is closely related to the scattering and distortion of the acoustic wave.