The influence of γ′ precipitate size distribution on the deformation mechanisms under tensile loading in ATI 718Plus was studied. A set of aging treatments within the temperature range of 720 °C–900 °C was performed on solution-treated samples to obtain various γ′ precipitate size distributions. Unimodal and bimodal γ′ precipitate size distributions were achieved through single-step and two-step aging sequences, respectively, and such microstructures were tensile tested to failure to assess their yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation-to-failure. Some of the tensile samples were interrupted after achieving 3–4 % plastic strain, and the deformed microstructures were examined using transmission electron microscopy to investigate the γ′ precipitate-dislocation interactions. For the unimodal γ′ precipitate size distribution samples with the smaller γ′ precipitates (radius ∼ 7 nm), dislocations sheared through the precipitates. Both dislocation loops and paired dislocations were observed for the microstructures containing larger γ′ precipitates (radius ∼ 24 nm). The microstructure containing a bimodal γ′ precipitate size distribution, which included average γ′ precipitate radii of ∼6 nm and ∼28 nm, exhibited shearing as the dominant deformation mechanism, and this microstructure exhibited the highest strength values. The experimental observations were rationalized based on the theoretically-calculated critical resolved shear stress values for shearing and looping and a modified model for predicting the yield strength for bimodal microstructures was introduced.
