The advancement of additive manufacturing (AM) technology has heightened interest in producing components from nickel-based superalloys for high-temperature applications; however, developing high gamma prime (γ’) strengthened alloys suitable for AM at temperatures of 1000°C or higher poses significant challenges due to their “non-weldable” nature. Traditional compositions intended for casting or wrought processes are often unsuitable for AM due to their rapid heating and cooling cycles, leading to performance compromises. This study introduces ABD-1000AM, a novel high gamma prime Ni-based superalloy designed using the Alloys-by-Design computational approach to excel in AM applications at elevated temperatures. Tailored for AM, particularly powder bed fusion, ABD-1000AM demonstrates exceptional processing capability and high-temperature mechanical and environmental performance at 1000°C. The study discusses the alloy design approach, highlighting the optimization of key performance parameters, composition, and process-microstructure-performance relationships to achieve ABD-1000AM’s unique combination of processability and creep resistance. Insights from ABD-1000AM’s development inform future directions for superalloy development in complex AM components.

The current investigation focuses on understanding the influence of a columnar microstructure and a sealing layer on the corrosion behavior of suspension plasma sprayed (SPS) thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). Two different TBC systems were studied in this work. First is a double layer made of a composite of gadolinium zirconate + yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) deposited on top of YSZ. Second is a triple layer made of dense gadolinium zirconate deposited on top of gadolinium zirconate + YSZ over YSZ. Cyclic corrosion tests were conducted between 25 °C and 900 °C with an exposure time of 8h at 900 °C. 75 wt. % Na 2 SO 4 + 25 wt.% NaCl were used as the corrosive salts at a concentration of 6 mg/cm 2 . Scanning electron microscopy analysis of the samples’ cross-sections showed that severe bond coat degradation had taken place for both TBC systems and the extent of bond coat degradation was relatively higher in the triple layer system. It is believed that the sealing layer in the triple layer system reduced the number of infiltration channels for the molten salts which resulted in overflowing of the salts to the coating edges and caused damage to develop relatively more from the edge.