Chemical composition analysis on industrial scale ingots and castings of TiAl alloys

The chemical composition variation of the TiAl-4722 alloys was examined in a batch of the industrial scale master ingots,and in the corresponding castings prepared by conventional vacuum arc remelting(VAR)combined with induction skull melting(ISM)and investment casting processes.The content changes of major elements and interstitial elements were evaluated based on the chemical analysis at the top and bottom of the ingots and castings.Results show that the contents of C,N,H,Fe and Si have almost no change in the ingots and castings,suggesting that the chemical analysis on these elements can be based on the batch analysis.The O content keeps almost the same in different ingots,but exhibits relatively large differences in castings,which was probably influenced by the reaction between the shell mold and the molten alloy,and the spalling of face coat of the shell mold during casting.For the major elements of Al,Nb and Cr,the composition difference between the top and the bottom of the ingots is less than that of the castings.But for the O element,the trend is different,especially for the castings,suggesting that the investment casting is a homogenization process for Cr and Nb,but a differentiation process for O.The contents of major elements in castings fluctuate mainly in the same range as that in the ingots,indicating that the contents of the major elements are controllable during investment casting.

Microstructures and phase transformation in directionally solidified TiAl-Nb alloys

Intermetallic Ti-45Al-8Nb-(W,B,Y)(at.%)and Ti-46Al-5Nb alloys are directionally solidified at a constant growth rate of 30μm·s-1 using a Bridgman type apparatus.The quenched microstructures and lengths of different phase regions were observed and measured after various growing times of 0-30 min.Results show that the phase transformations in different phase regions are mainly depending on the high temperature microstructure and the supercooling degree during quenching process.After isothermal holding,the primary phase grows into the liquid phase,the dendrites change from equiaxed to columnar grains,and the length of the L+βphase region,L+β+αphase region and mushy zone varies,indicating that the entire directional solidification process can be described by a static equilibrium-nonequilibrium-dynamic equilibrium evolution process.In addition,the gap between the original growth interface and front interface shows that the actual crystal growth rate is not equal to the drawing velocity during directional solidification.

Reaction behaviors occurring in Ti/Al foil metallurgy

Reaction behaviors occurring in Ti/Al foil metallurgy were systematically investigated.Particular emphasis was focused on the reaction between solid Al and Ti as well as subsequent reaction between TiAland Ti layer.In the solid reaction between Al and Ti,the presence of residual Al is mainly caused by inhomogeneous growth of TiAllayer and micro-voids existing at the interface.However,through reaction between molten Al and Ti,TiAl/Ti multilayer can be achieved with complete consumption of Al.During subsequent high-temperature heat treatment,TiAl/Ti multilayer will eventually turn into TiAl/TiAl multilayer accompanying with simultaneous formation and successive disappearance of intermediate phases,such as TiAland TiAl.Moreover,it is found that the growth direction of TiAl layer changes as a function of annealing time between different couples in multi-intermetallics system.

Advances in phase relationship for high Nb-containing TiAl alloys

γ-TiAl alloys,including two categories（the conventional TiAl and the high Nb-containing TiAl（high Nb-TiAl））,are technologically intriguing because of their applications at high temperatures.Specifically,the service temperature of the high Nb-TiAl alloys is 60-100℃higher than that of conventional TiAl alloys.Recently developed TiAl alloys,for example TNB,TNM,β-γ alloys,belong to the high Nb-TiAl alloys,displaying similar behavior in phase transformation,strengthening,oxidation at high temperatures,and relationships between composition,microstructure,and mechanical properties.This work presents an in-depth review of the high Nb-TiAl alloys regarding the advances in phase diagram,formation mechanism of the new γ_1 phase,microsegregation induced by adding a high content of alloying element Nb,and the mechanism of the B2/ω phase formation.Some challenges in developing the high Nb-TiAl alloys are also discussed.

Warm deformation behavior and work-softening mechanism of Fe- 6.5wt.%Si alloy

Warm deformation behavior of the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy was studied by isothermal compression in the temperature range of 300-700℃.The results show that the influence of the ordered phases on the flow stress gradually weakens with increasing deformation temperature.The flow stress of the furnace-cooled sample with the high degree of order at 300℃is higher than that of the quenched sample with the low degree of order,and the flow stresses of both samples are nearly the same at 500-700℃.The hardness difference between two samples deformed at 500℃gradually decreases with increasing strain,accompanying with a reduction in hardness of the furnace-cooled sample,which indicates a work-softening behavior.The analyses of dislocation configurations and ordered structure suggest that the dynamic recovery and deformation-induced disorder result in the work-softening behavior.An appropriate deformation temperature window for improving the formability of the Fe-6.5wt.%Si alloy is about 500-600℃.

Comprehensive impact of as-cast microstructure and ordered structures on formability of large-scale Fe-6.5 wt.%Si alloy ingots

Large-scale Fe-6.5 wt.%Si ingot with excellent formability is required for a pilot line producing sheets through hot/cold rolling.The variation of the as-cast microstructure,ordered structures and the formability of the Fe-6.5 wt.%Si alloy ingots with the cooling rate during casting was investigated.Under air-cooling condition,inhomogeneous microstructures with a low proportion of equiaxed grains were formed,but the formation of ordered structures was partially inhibited,especially DO3.Homogeneous microstructures with a high proportion of equiaxed grains were observed under the condition of furnace cooling,but the ordered structures were fully generated,and the degree of order is high.It is generally believed that high degree of order is the main factor of brittleness,but the homogeneous microstructure(including grain morphology and size)of the furnace-cooled sample helps to improve the formability.The influence of these two aspects on formability is contradictory.Therefore,the formability is tested through the flow stress during the compression and the microstructure after the compression.The results show that the furnace-cooled sample has better formability.For large-scale ingots,the control of as-cast microstructure becomes more significant than the control of degree of order.Slow cooling during casting is important for the large-scale ingots to have good formability meeting the requirements of direct hot rolling.

Evolution of Microstructure and Ordering in Rolling Process of Fe-6. 5 mass% Si Alloy

Fe-6. 5 mass% Si alloy is an excellent soft magnetic material with good application prospects. After rolling,the structure of the sheet is likely to be heterogeneous along the normal direction. The microstructure and ordering evolution in the thickness range of the sheets during hot-warm rolling process was studied by means of optical microscope and transmission electron microscope. The results show that dynamic recrystallization occurs in the surface parts during the hot and warm rolling processes,where the grains are equiaxed but have high density of dislocations due to the large deformation. The grains in the center part are elongated along the rolling direction. It is also found that in the hot rolled sheet,the center part has lower density of dislocations because of dynamic recovery. Meanwhile,this part has higher ordering content compared with the surface part,indicating that the high density of dislocations can inhibit the formation of ordering in the air cooling process after hot rolling. In the warm rolling process,both of the parts are deformed heavily. Large deformation destroys ordered phases and induces disordering. The ordering content is low in the whole warm rolled sheet.