Materials Science Forum Vols. 475-479

Abstract: . A hot working and its effect on the microstructure and tensile properties of Ti-45Al-9 (Nb, W, B, Y) alloy ingot on industrial scale were investigated. The results showed that the alloy has good workability in anα+γphase region. An ingot on industrial scale was successfully extruded followed by multi-step canned forging. The initial microstructure of the alloy is fine full lamellar (FL) microstructure. After hot working a sound pancake exhibiting a fine grain duplex (DP) microstructure with grain size about 20μm was obtained. The as-forged alloy has more balanced tensile properties than the small heats with similar composition and microstructure at both room and high temperatures.

Abstract: Finite element method (FEM) simulation is carried out to analyze temperature distribution of the workpiece for the controlled-dwell extrusion of gamma-TiAl. We focused on the selection of can and insulating materials and concluded that silica fabric is a better insulating material than ZrO2 powders. 304SS, Ti6Al4V, 1Cr18Ni9Ti and pure Ti can be selected as can material if the dwell time and in-container time are well controlled. Thermo-mechanical coupled analysis is performed to investigate flow uniformity and temperature homogeneity for different can and insulating materials. Extrusion experiment was conducted and the results basically agree well with those of the simulation.

Abstract: Ti2AlNb orthorhombic phase based alloys are the promising high temperature structural materials for aeronautical and aerospace industry because of their low density, high yield strength and excellent high temperature performance. In this paper, the recent work which has been carried out in CISRI on alloy and process of Ti2AlNb based alloys is presented. The work covers the development of the alloy design and microstructure control as well as the processing technology applied for producing good quality alloy ingots and fabricating various components. The progress obtained in application research of the alloys is addressed. The important role that the combination of TMP and the post-TMP treatment affects on the microstructure and thus on the properties of the alloys is emphasized.

Abstract: The Ti46Al2Nb2Mo and Ti45.4Al4.8Nb alloys were oxidized isothermally and cyclically in air between 800 and 1000oC, and their oxidation characteristics were investigated. Nb and Mo were beneficial to oxidation resistance. The initially formed thin TiO2-rich scale changed to an outer, superficial TiO2 layer, a thick Al2O3-rich middle layer, and an inner (TiO2-rich, Al2O3-deficient) layer, as the extent of oxidation progressed. The dissolved ions of Mo and Nb had a tendency to be expelled from the outer TiO2 layer, which was formed by the outward diffusion of Ti ions, to the inner (TiO2-rich, Al2O3-deficient) layer, which was formed by the inward transport of oxygen, owing to the nobility of Mo and Nb when compared to Ti and Al.

Abstract: A TiAl sheet fabrication technique from Ti/Al foils was studied experimentally. Firstly, the reaction sequence between Ti and Al foils were studied with DSC and then a three stage solid transformations processing was carried out. At the first stage, Al diffused into Ti foils and formed Al3Ti. The heating temperature was selected based on a ruler that the pure Al was consumed by solid diffusion with a short time and avoiding the melting of Al. The resulted microstructure consists of pure Ti and Al3Ti. At the second stage, part of Al in Al3Ti diffused into pure Ti and formed the high temperature phase. At the third stage, the sample was heated into the high temperature -phase zone and hold a given time and then cooling with the furnace. A full density γ-TiAl based alloy sheet with lamellar microstructure was successfully fabricated under above processing. The lamellar orientations are aligned around 0-45o compared to the longitudinal direction of the sheet.

Abstract: The ratio of skull weight to charge weight (Rs) and the skull size during the induction skull melting (ISM) processing of TiAl alloy were investigated. The effects of inputting power, charge weight, and holding time on them were studied theoretically. An experiment was carried out. The theoretical and experimental results are in good agreement.

Abstract: A rigid plastic finite element simulation method on canned forging was introduced to explain and optimize the large ingot deformation of TiAl alloy containing high content of Nb. By this method the process of deformation and the distribution of stress and strain especially on the interface can be obtained, thus the influence of capsule on the deformation and final shape of ingot can be easily explained and an appropriate processing of canned forging was ingot.

Abstract: In order to improve high temperature mechanical properties of Ti2AlNb based alloys, alloying with a combination of Ta and W was studied in the on-going work. The effects of cooling rate after solution heat treatment on the room temperature mechanical properties have been reported in this paper. All samples were solid solution treated at near β transus temperature, cooled at different cooling rates, and then aged at subtransus temperature. Experimental results showed that, with increasing cooling rate, room temperature yield strength decreased sharply to a minimum value, and then increased. Change of elongation exhibits a trend opposite to yield strength. Microstructure of the alloy varied from near lamellar to lamellar plus Widmanstätten, and then to full Widmanstätten structure with the increase of cooling rate, and the faster the cooling rate, the finer the laths of the O phase. The samples with near lamellar microstructure obtained at the cooling rate of 6oC/min possess the best ductility but relatively low yield strength.

Abstract: Electron beam (EB) welding of Ti-24Al-17Nb-0.5Mo (at.%) alloy and the effects of postweld heat treatments (PWHT) were studied. Through optimizing the welding parameters, defect-free welding joint was obtained. For the as-welded joint, the fusion zone (FZ) consisted of predominant β and occasional α2 within β grains. Microhardness of FZ was higher than that of the base metal (BM) and that of the heat affected zone (HAZ) was between that of BM and FZ. PWHTs greatly modified the microstructures and mechanical properties of the weld zone. PWHTs at both 820oC and 900oC yielded fine acicular laths in FZ leading to severe brittleness of the weld. Appropriate microstructures and phase combination were obtained by PWHT at 1000oC for 2 h, and room-temperature tensile strength reached the value of the base metal after the same thermal cycle.

Abstract: The characteristics of deformation of an orthorhombic phase based alloy, Ti-22Al-25Nb (at%), have been studied by hot compression tests in the temperature range of 940-1150°C with the strain rates of 0.01s-1 and 0.1s-1. A flow curves typically controlled by dynamic recovery were observed in the temperature range of 1090-1150 °C for the strain rate of 0.01s-1 , while discontinuous yield phenomena was found for the strain rate of 0.1s-1. The dynamic recovery can be identified by the microstructure characteristics of the deformation specimens. At 1060°C, the temperature of beta transus, the flow curves and microstructure exhibited the same deformation charateristics as that above the beta transus. At the subtransus temperature, a long period of flow softening followed by the steady-state flow can be observed. During the hot deformation, the hard phases α2 and O elongated, subboundary produced followed by cusp formation in the elongated α2 and O phases, the equiaxed morphology phases occurred by B2 phase penetrating along the subboundaries. The softening mechanism was discussed.