Micro mechanical property investigations of Ni-based high-temperature alloy GH4169 based on nanoindentation and CPFE simulation

In this research, the microscopic deformation behavior of GH4169 superalloy is investigated by a series of nanoindentation experiments and simulations based on crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) model, including hardness, creep displacement and stress distribution around indentation. In this regard, the crystal plasticity constitutive model based on dislocation slip for face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal of concern is summarized and numerically implemented at first. Moreover, nanoindentation experiments are performed on specimens with various peak loads and load times to investigate the mechanical response and deformation mechanism at the micro-scale. Nanoindentation test results show that load rate, peak load, and nanoindentation size effect (ISE) all affect the microscopic deformation behavior of GH4169. The value of creep stress exponent, m, calculated from the creep experimental data is greater than 3, indicating that dislocation slip is dominant creep mechanism at room temperature.The nanoindentation simulation data based on the crystal elastic–plastic parameters determined by the trial-and-error method are in good agreement with the experimental data, demonstrating that the CPFE simulation results are credible. Therefore, this study can be used as a reference to investigate other alloy materials.