The effect of parameters on internal crack healing in 30Cr2Ni4MoV steel for 600-ton ultra-super ingots was systematically investigated. The results show that the degree of crack healing increases with increasing healing temperature, holding time, reduction ratio, and hot pressure, and with decreasing strain rate. Internal crack healing in 30Cr2Ni4MoV steel should be conducted at less than 1200 °C to avoid grain coarsening. Hot pressure, in the high-temperature elastic zone and perpendicular to the crack faces, not only promotes the rapid crack healing, but also prevents grain coarsening of the matrix.

The precipitation behavior of a novel Ni-Fe-based superalloy developed for advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) coal-fired power plant applications during high-temperature aging treatment was investigated. The results showed that the major precipitates in the novel alloy were randomly distributed MC carbides, M₂₃C₆ carbides at grain boundaries, and the γ′-Ni₃ (Al, Ti) phase in grain interiors after aging. MC remained relatively stable during both short-term and long-term aging. M₂₃C₆ quickly precipitated and exhibited a discrete distribution at grain boundaries during short-term aging, and partly developed into continuous films during long-term aging. After uniform precipitation, the shape of γ′ remained spherical, and the size kept increasing with aging time according to the Lifshitz–Slyozov–Wagner (LSW) model. The hardness of the novel alloy was mainly associated with the precipitation behavior of γ′; as γ′ gradually precipitated, the hardness steadily increased; after complete precipitation, as the size of γ′ increased, the hardness first increased and then decreased, reaching the peak hardness when the average radius of γ′ achieved the critical size. In addition, the novel alloy exhibited abnormal coarsening behavior at grain boundaries during both short-term and long-term aging. The coarsened grain boundaries were actually precipitate-free zones (PFZs) and the coarsened and elongated rod-like particles inside were identified as γ′ precipitates. The mechanism of strain-induced grain boundary migration and the discontinuous coarsening reaction is proposed for the formation of PFZs. Furthermore, PFZs were considered to be potential crack sources during the creep rupture test, leading to earlier failure of the material.

The hot deformation behavior of as-cast 30Cr2Ni4MoV steel was characterized using processing maps in the temperature range 850 to 1200 °C and strain rate range 0.01 to 10 s⁻¹. Based on the obtained flow curves, the power dissipation maps at different strains were developed and the effect of the strain on the efficiency of power dissipation was discussed in detail. The processing maps at different strains were obtained by superimposing the instability maps on the power dissipation maps. According to the processing map and the metallographic observation, the optimum domain of hot deformation was in the temperature range of 950–1200 °C and strain rate range of 0.03–0.5 s⁻¹, with a peak efficiency of 0.41 at 1100 °C and 0.25 s⁻¹ which were the optimum hot working parameters.