The present work includes an in-depth study of microstructure and mechanical property development in a cold rotary forged component manufactured from Inconel 718 alloy. This work is pioneering in that there is no detailed study available in the literature focussing on cold rotary forging of Inconel 718. A tubular preform of 6 mm wall thickness was cold rotary forged into a 90 degree flange part followed by annealing with double aging. The present study provides a thorough analysis of microstructure, hardness and surface roughness evolution from as-received to final cold rotary forged and heat-treated condition including crystallographic texture changes occurring at different stages. The solution-annealed condition of the preform was found to be most suitable for cold rotary forging of Inconel 718. An annealing treatment followed by double-aging imparted desired properties such as homogeneous microstructure, uniform hardness distribution and improved surface roughness into the cold rotary forged Inconel 718 flange. The cold rotary forging can be a cost-effective route for manufacture of axisymmetric components with high material yield and low buy-to-fly ratio for expensive materials such as Inconel 718.

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A systematic study of the effect of d phase precipitate morphology on the hot deformation behavior and microstructural evolution in nickel superalloy Inconel 718 is presented. Isothermal compression tests at fixed nominal strain rates and temperatures relevant to industrial forging (0.001-0.3 s -1 and 990-1040°C) were used. Three distinct initial microstructures have been examined: (I) solution treated, (II) a microstructure with finely dispersed particulate d precipitates, and (III) a microstructure containing dense network of intragranular and grain boundary d platelets. The peak flow stress associated with these various microstructures has been rationalized using a single, temperature-compensated power law. This clearly demonstrates opposition of the external applied stress by an internal back stress related to the initial d phase morphology and apparent delta solvus temperature. Post-peak flow softening is attributed to dynamic recrystallization, aided by the dissolution of finer precipitates in material containing particulate d phase, and to a certain degree of mechanical grain refinement caused by distortion and offsetting of grain segments where a dense d-platelet structure exists.

In order to investigate the influence of -phase precipitation during high temperature forging of Inconel 718, hot axi-symmetric compression tests have been performed on specimens with two distinct initial microstructures: i) as-received material containing a dense population of  precipates at grain boundaries and along intragranular slip planes, and ii) material solution-treated to dissolve the  phase. Results indicate that the presence of  leads to a slight increase in peak stress and a proportionately greater post-peak reduction in flow stress, as compared to solution-treated material. For both types of microstructure flow softening is associated with grain refinement, but in different ways: in -free material conventional dynamic recrystallisation leads to the formation of new grains, whereas the presence of plate-like  appears to cause the mechanical break-up and segmentation of prior grains.