Influence of Cold Rotary Swaging on Microstructure and Uniaxial Mechanical Behavior in Alloy 718

In this study, the influence of cold rotary swaging on microstructure and mechanical properties of the precipitation-strengthened nickel-based superalloy 718 (Alloy 718) was investigated. The initial stages of work-hardening were characterized by means of microhardness, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Furthermore, attention was devoted to the mechanical behavior at ambient and elevated temperature (550 °C) in uniaxial tension and compression. Rotary swaging to different true strains of maximum φ = 0.91 caused a moderate increase of microhardness and enhanced markedly the load-bearing capacity in tension, giving rise to yield strength beyond 2000 MPa. The mechanical strength R_p0.2 in tension subsequent to rotary swaging perfectly correlates with increasing dislocation density ρ estimated from XRD in the form of a Taylor-like relationship R_p0.2∝√(ρ) . In compression, transient stress–strain evolution without the occurrence of a clear elastic range and distinct yield phenomenon was observed. Restoration of the elastic range, accompanied by a pronounced increase of microhardness, was obtained by a post-swaging tempering treatment at 600 °C.