Patent ID: 7033448

Claim:
A method for preparing an article made of a nickel-base superalloy strengthened by the presence of a gamma-prime phase, comprising the steps of providing an initial article of the nickel-base superalloy; thereafter solution heat treating the nickel-base superalloy at a solutionizing temperature above a gamma-prime solvus temperature of the nickel-base superalloy; thereafter first quenching the nickel-base superalloy in a first molten salt bath maintained at a temperature of from the gamma-prime solvus to about 100° F. below the gamma-prime solvus temperature; thereafter second quenching the nickel-base superalloy in a second molten salt bath maintained at a temperature below an aging temperature of the nickel-base superalloy; and thereafter precipitation heat treating the nickel-base superalloy at the aging temperature to precipitate an aged microstructure comprising gamma prime phase in a nickel-base matrix.