Nickel base alloys are used in a variety of industries where severe corrosive conditions, whether it be aqueous corrosion or high temperature corrosion, are encountered. These alloys for high temperature service, known as superalloys, are utilized at a higher proportion of their actual melting point, approaching or even slightly exceeding 0.9Tm, where Tm is the melting point, than any other class of commercial metallurgical materials. In addition to aircraft, marine and industrial gas turbines, these high temperature alloys see service in space vehicles, rocket engines, submarines, nuclear reactors, steam power plants, petrochemical and refineries, heat treat industries and many others. Many of these nickel alloys obtain their corrosion resistance and strength at higher temperatures, due to a unique combinations of alloying elements and thermo-mechanical processing for developing optimum microstructures. However this microstructure changes in high temperature service due to solid state precipitation of detrimental phases such as cellular M23C6, mu phase, laves phases, sigma phases and others, which may lead to cracking (micro and macro) and/or reduce the creep strength and corrosion resistance. Rather than discarding an expensive component, in many instances, repair welding is a very cost-effective method for salvaging and prolonging the useful life of a component. This paper describes the metallurgy of a high temperature alloy 602CA (UNS N06025), along with repair welding procedures of certain components after long term exposure to high temperatures.
Keywords: Nickel alloys, alloy 602CA, UNS N06025, high temperature corrosion, high temperature exposure, repair welding, high temperature alloys