Fabrication of (TiB/Ti)-TiAl composites with a controlled laminated architecture and enhanced mechanical properties

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2020.06.011

Abstract

Abstract:

The (TiB/Ti)-TiAl composites with a laminated structure composing of alternating TiB/Ti composite layers, α₂-Ti₃Al interfacial reaction layers of and γ-TiAl layers were successfully prepared by spark plasma sintering of alternately stacked TiB₂/Ti powder layers and TiAl powder layers. And the influence of thickness ratio of TiB₂/Ti powder layers to TiAl powder layers on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the resulting (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites were investigated systemically. The results showed that the thickening of α₂-Ti₃Al layers which originated from the reaction of Ti and TiAl was significantly hindered by introducing TiB₂ particles into starting Ti powders. As the thickness ratio of TiB₂/Ti powder layers to TiAl powder layers increased, the bending fracture strength and fracture toughness at room temperature of the final (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites were remarkably improved, especially for the (TiB/Ti)-TiAl composites prepared by TiB₂/Ti powder layers with thickness of 800 μm and TiAl powder layers with thickness of 400 μm, whose fracture toughness and bending strength were up to 51.2 MPa·m^1/2 and 1456 MPa, respectively, 293 % and 108 % higher than that of the monolithic TiAl alloys in the present work. This was attributed to the addition of high-performance network TiB/Ti composite layers. Moreover, it was noteworthy that the ultimate tensile strength at 700 °C of (TiB/Ti)-TiAl composites fabricated by 400 μm thick TiB₂/Ti powder layers and 400 μm thick TiAl powder layers was as high as that at 550 °C of network TiB/Ti composites. This means the service temperature of (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites was likely raised by 150 °C, meanwhile a good combination of high strength and high toughness at ambient temperature could be maintained. Finally, the fracture mechanism of (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites was proposed.

Key words: Titanium aluminide matrix composites, Laminated structure, High temperature properties, Strengthening-toughening

Hao Ding, Xiping Cui, Naonao Gao, Yuan Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Lujun Huang, Lin Geng. Fabrication of (TiB/Ti)-TiAl composites with a controlled laminated architecture and enhanced mechanical properties[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2021, 62: 221-23.

Figures/Tables 13

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of fabrication process of (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites.

Table 1 Designed thickness variation of TiB2/Ti mixed powder layers and TiAl powder layers and the responding resulting (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites.

Raw materials	Thickness of starting powder layers (μm)	Labeled resulting laminated composites
Ti-6Al-4V powder layers	400	400Ti-400TiAl
TiAl powder layers	400	400Ti-400TiAl
TiB₂/Ti mixed powder layers	400	400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl
TiAl powder layers	400	400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl
TiB₂/Ti mixed powder layers	400	400(TiB/Ti)-800TiAl
TiAl powder layers	800	400(TiB/Ti)-800TiAl
TiB₂/Ti mixed powder layers	800	800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl
TiAl powder layers	400	800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl

Fig. 2. Typical microstructure of the 400Ti-400TiAl laminated composites with the respective starting layer thickness of 400 μm fabricated by spark plasma sintering at 1250 ℃ for 15 min under the pressure of 50 MPa: (a) SEM image of representative microstructure of the resulting 400Ti-400TiAl laminated composites consisting of alternating TiAl layers, Ti3Al layers and Ti layers; SEM image of the representative microstructure of TiAl layer; (b) SEM image of the representative microstructure of TiAl layer; OM image of the representative microstructure of Ti3Al interfacial reaction layer (c) and Ti layer (d); (e) SEM/EDX results along the red line shown in Fig. 2(a); (f) XRD patterns of the resulting 400Ti-400TiAl laminated composites.

Fig. 3. Representative microstructure of the 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites with the respective original layer thickness of 400 μm produced by spark plasma sintering at 1250 ℃ for 15 min under the pressure of 50 MPa: (a) SEM image of microstructure of the 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites; (b) the magnified SEM image of the red rectangle zone shown in Fig. 3(a), displaying the morphologies of the TiB/Ti composite layers, Ti3Al interfacial reaction layers and TiAl layer, respectively; SEM image of the representative microstructure of TiB/Ti layer (c), Ti3Al interfacial reaction layers (d) and TiAl layer (e); (f) XRD patterns of the resulting 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites.

Fig. 4. Microstructure and chemical compositions of the 800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites with the respective original layer thickness of 800 μm and 400 μm prepared by spark plasma sintering at 1250 ℃ for 15 min under the pressure of 50 MPa: (a) SEM image of microstructure of the 800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites; (b) the magnified SEM image of the red rectangle zone indicated in Fig. 4(a), showing the morphologies of the TiB/Ti composite layers, Ti3Al interfacial reaction layers and TiAl layer; (c) SEM/EDX results different zones (Red points) shown in Fig. 4(b).

Fig. 5. Microstructure of the 400(TiB/Ti)-800TiAl laminated composites with the respective starting layer thickness of 400 μm and 800 μm obtained by spark plasma sintering at 1250 ℃ for 15 min under the pressure of 50 MPa: (a) SEM image of microstructure of the 400(TiB/Ti)-800TiAl laminated composites; (b) the magnified SEM image of the red rectangle zone indicated in Fig. 5(a), showing the morphologies of the TiB/Ti composite layers, Ti3Al interfacial reaction layers and TiAl layer.

Table 2 Thickness variation of Ti3Al interfacial reaction layer, TiB/Ti composite (Ti) layer and TiAl layer within different (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites.

Resulting composites	Component layers	Component layer thickness (μm)
400Ti-400TiAl laminated composites	Ti layers	220 ± 5
	TiAl layers	360 ± 10
	Ti₃Al layer	100 ± 10
400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites	TiB/Ti layers	350 ± 20
	TiAl layers	400 ± 20
	Ti₃Al layer	35 ± 5
800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites	TiB/Ti layers	790 ± 10
	TiAl layers	330 ± 20
	Ti₃Al layer	40 ± 5
400(TiB/Ti)-800TiAl laminated composites	TiB/Ti layers	360 ± 10
	TiAl layers	760 ± 20
	Ti₃Al layer	40 ± 5

Fig. 6. Bending strengths of the monolithic TiAl alloys, 400Ti-400TiAl laminated composites, 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites, 800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites, 400(TiB/Ti)-800TiAl laminated composites and network TiB/Ti composites.

Fig. 7. Fracture morphologies of 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites: (a) SEM image of fracture surfaces of the 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites, displaying the typical fracture features of the multi-layered structure; (b) Fracture morphologies of TiB/Ti composite layers, showing the ductile fracture characteristics including numerous dimples and the breakage and pull-out of in-situ synthesized TiB whiskers; (c) SEM image of fracture surfaces of the Ti3Al interfacial reaction layer, indicating typical cleavage fracture mode including river-like patterns; (d) Fracture morphologies of TiAl layer, exhibiting intergranular fracture and cleavage fracture mode containing river-like patterns.

Fig. 8. Fracture toughnesses of the monolithic TiAl alloys, 400Ti-400TiAl laminated composites, 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites, 800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites, 400(TiB/Ti)-800TiAl laminated composites and network TiB/Ti composites, respectively.

Fig. 9. A comparison of bending strength and fracture toughness between the 800(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites prepared in the present work and the TiAl-Ti laminated composites, TiB/Ti composites and TiAl matrix composites published in References.

Fig. 10. Crack propagation characteristics in the (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites: (a) SEM image of crack propagation path in the 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites; (b) Magnified SEM image of Zone 1 shown in Fig. 10(a), showing the crack propagation features within network TiB/Ti composite layer; (c) Magnified OM image of Zone 2 indicated in Fig. 10(a), exhibiting the crack propagation path within Ti3Al interfacial reaction layer and TiAl layer; (d) Schematic illustration of crack propagation characteristics of (TiB/Ti)-TiAl laminated composites.

Fig. 11. Tensile properties and fracture morphologies at high temperature of 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites and network TiB/Ti composites: (a) A comparison of tensile properties between network TiB/Ti composites tested at 450-550 °C and 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites measured in the temperature range of 600-700 °C; The corresponding facture surfaces of the 400(TiB/Ti)-400TiAl laminated composites after tensile testing at 700 °C: (b) exhibiting the fracture characteristics of the interface between network TiB/Ti composites and Ti3Al interfacial reaction layer; (c) indicating the fracture features of the interface between Ti3Al interfacial reaction layer and TiAl layer.

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