Microstructure and formation mechanism of titanium matrix composites coating on Ti-6Al-4V by laser cladding

Laser cladding experiments were done on a 5-kW continuous wave CO2 laser to synthesize TiC and TiB rein- fowed titanium matrix composite coatings on Ti-6AI-4V alloy with a mixture of Ti and B4C precursor powder. The ther- modynamics of the reactions were calculated and analyzed. The microstructure and phase evolution of TiB and TiC com- posites were investigated. The results showed that the chemical reaction between Ti and B4C would release much heat, and these compounds, TiC, TiB, and small amount of TiB2, can be formed on the surface of Ti-6AI-4V alloy if the supplied en- ergy is sufficient to excite the reaction among the initial products. A good metallurgical bond between the coating and the substrate can be achieved. The microhardness of coating was irregular and the maximum value was approximately HV600.

Research on development of in situ titanium matrix composites and in situ reaction thermodynamics of the reaction systems

The in situ synthesis method for titanium matrix composites （TMCs） has obvious technical and economical advantages over other traditional methods. Ultrafine reinforcement particles were formed in situ by chemical reaction between elements or between elements and compounds. Using the approach, contamination at the composite matrix/reinforcement particle interface did not occur, interface bonding was good, and the reinforcement particle was thermodynamically stable. The stage of development of the preparation process for in situ TMCs as well as the thermodynamic analysis of the possible in situ reaction systems was described.

Microstructure and dry sliding wear behavior of as-cast TiCp/Ti-1100-0.5Nb titanium matrix composite at elevated temperatures

The microstructure and dry sliding wear performance of as-cast TiCp/Ti-1100-0.5Nb composite at 25℃,500℃ and 600℃ were systematically investigated.Results show that the solidification matrix microstructure is the typical Widmanst?tten structure.The eutectic TiC particles are uniformly distributed in the matrix in the form of feathery,long rod and strip-like shapes.Meanwhile,the interface between TiC and titanium matrix is clear and without any reaction.The wear rate of TiCp/Ti-1100-0.5Nb at 600℃ and 500℃ is reduced by 95.8%and 79.9%,respectively,compared with that of the value of 51.8×10^-6 mm^3·mm^-1 at 25℃.The friction coefficient of the steady-state period at 25℃,500℃,600℃ is 0.48,0.8,1.2,respectively,and the variation extent of the friction coefficient at elevated temperatures is greater than at 25℃.The wear mechanism is changed from the mixture of adhesive wear and abrasive wear to mild oxidation wear with rising temperature.It can also be concluded that the composite possesses excellent high temperature wear resistance.The high-wear resistance of the composite is attributed to the Fe2O3 and TiO2.The presence of Fe2O3 and TiO2 reduces the wear rate,increases the friction coefficient,and also improves the range-ability of the friction coefficient.

Evaluation the Properties of Titanium Matrix Composites by Melting Route Synthesis

The main purpose of this study is an in-situ synthesis of （TiB＋TiC） hybrid titanium matrix composites （TMCs） by vacuum induction melting method and to verify its mechanical properties.The melting route was adopted to synthesize the commercial pure titanium （cp Ti） and granular boron carbide （B-4C）.The reinforcements,the fraction of 10 vol.pct,were formed by adding 1.88 wt pct B-4C to cp Ti.After in-situ synthesis of TMCs,electron probe micro-analysis elemental mapping was carried out to confirm the distribution and shape of reinforcements.The cone-on-disk type sliding wear test was also done for the identification of TMCs.It is concluded that （TiB＋TiC） hybrid TMCs can be in-situ synthesized and has better wear properties than H13.

Reaction Processes of the Titanium Matrix Composites Fabricated from Ti-Al-B2O3 System

Titanium matrix composites reinforced with a-Al2O3 and TiB2 particles were fabricated by in situ synthesis from a Ti-Al-B2O3 system. The reaction processes and microstructure were analyzed by using differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and X-ray diffraction（XRD）. The results showed that the reactions in the Ti-Al-B2O3 system can occur spontaneously and consist of three steps： 1） 15 Al ＋ 7B2O3 → 7α-Al2O3 ＋ AlB12 ＋ 2B; 2） 14 B ＋ 2Al → AlB12 ＋ AlB2 and 3） 7Ti ＋ AlB（12） ＋ AlB2 → 7TiB2 ＋ 2Al. The final reinforcements were composed of α-Al2O3 and TiB2 particles, which were uniformly distributed in the titanium matrix.

Microstructure evolution during preparation of in-situ TiB reinforced titanium matrix composites

By means of DTA, SHS quenching, XRD and SEM, the microstructure evolution during fabricating of TiB reinforced in situ titanium matrix composite was studied. DTA result shows that there are two exothermic and one endothermic reaction during heating of Ti B Al system. The exothermic reactions correspond to the solid solid diffusion reaction between Ti and Al, and the reaction of TiB formation respectively, and the endothermic reaction corresponds to melting of Al. The sample of SHS quenching presents four regions: unreacted region, heat affected region, reacting region and product region. The microstructures of these regions reflect the process of microstructure evolution during preparation of in situ TiB reinforced TMC. Ti, B, Al powders are in simple mechanical contact in the unreacted region; the sharp angles of original metal particles have become round and B diffuses into melted Al in the heat affected region; TiB whiskers begin to appear and grow in the interior of reacting region. In product region, the TiB whiskers are uniform and fine. The result of XRD indicates that the reinforcements formed in product region are TiB whiskers. And the TiB is a hexagonal prism with a pyramidal head.

Characterization of ceramic reinforced titanium matrix composites fabricated by spark plasma sintering for anti-ballistic applications

Titanium has found extensive use in various engineering applications due to its attractive physical,mechanical, and chemical characteristics. However, titanium has relatively low hardness for use as an armour material. ZrB2 was incorporated to the Ti matrix to form a Ti-based binary composites. In this study, powder metallurgy techniques were employed to disperse the ceramic particulates throughout the matrix material then consolidated through spark plasma sintering. The composites were densified at1300 ℃, pressure of 50 MPa, and holding time of 5 min. The microstructure and phase analysis of the sintered composites was carried out using SEM and XRD, while the hardness was determined using Vickers' microhardness tester. The SEM and XRD results confirmed the presence of the TiB whiskers which renowned with the improving the hardness of titanium. The hardness of the composite with 10 wt% ZrB_2 showed the highest hardness compared to that obtained for the 5 and 15 wt% ZrB_2 composites which was 495 and 571 Hv respectively.

Microstructure and properties of submicron-scale TiC particle reinforced titanium matrix composites prepared by shock wave consolidation

Submicron-scale TiC particle reinforced titanium matrix composites(TMCs) were prepared by shock wave consolidation technique at detonation speed of 2 5005 000 m/s. The microstructures were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The compressive strength and hardness values of the composites were also determined. The results show that the composites have higher compressive yield strength and hardness values than hot-rolled pure titanium. Twins in the microstructure of TMCs show that titanium particles undergo plastic deformation during consolidation process. The fine grains with size less than 1 μm often locate in the boundaries among the titanium particles. TiC particles seem to keep unchanged during the consolidation. These bring about the increase in strength and hardness for the composites. The detonation speed of 3 200 m/s is proper parameter for compacting powder in the present work.

Finite Element Analysis of Push-Out Test of SiC Fiber Reinforced Titanium Matrix Composites

Based on the interphase layer model and the spring layer model, an improved interface model was developed to evaluate the interfacial shear strength of Titanium matrix composites(TMCs) and to analyze the effects of various parameters on the interfacial properties. The results showed that the improved interface model is more suitable for calculating the interfacial properties of SiC fiber reinforced titanium matrix composites. The interfacial shear strength of SiC/Timetal-834 predicted is 500 MPa. In addition, in order to better understand the interfacial properties of composites, some push out phenomenon were analyzed.

Milling Machinability of TiC Particle and TiB Whisker Hybrid Reinforced Titanium Matrix Composites

The milling machinabilities of titanium matrix composites were comprehensively evaluated to provide a theoretical basis for cutting parameter determination.Polycrystalline diamond(PCD)tools with different grain sizes and geometries,and carbide tools with and without coatings were used in the experiments.Milling forces,milling temperatures,tool lifetimes,tool wear,and machined surface integrities were investigated.The PCD tool required a primary cutting force 15%smaller than that of the carbide tool,while the uncoated carbide tool required a primary cutting force 10% higher than that of the TiAlN-coated tool.A cutting force of 300 Nper millimeter of the cutting edge(300N/mm)was measured.This caused excessive tool chipping.The cutting temperature of the PCD tool was 20%—30%lower than that of the carbide tool,while that of the TiAlN-coated tool was 12%lower than that of the uncoated carbide tool.The cutting temperatures produced when using water-based cooling and minimal quantity lubrication(MQL)were reduced by 100°C and 200°C,compared with those recorded with dry cutting,respectively.In general,the PCD tool lifetimes were 2—3 times longer than the carbide tool lifetimes.The roughness Raof the machined surface was less than 0.6μm,and the depth of the machined surface hardened layer was in the range of 0.15—0.25 mm for all of the PCD tools before a flank wear land of 0.2mm was reached.The PCD tool with a 0.8mm tool nose radius,0°rake angle,10°flank angle,and grain size of(30+2)μm exhibited the best cutting performance.For this specific tool,a lifetime of 16 min can be expected.

Effect of fiber distribution on residual thermal stress in titanium matrix composite

Residual thermal stresses (RTS) of SCS-6 SiC/Ti-24Al-11Nb composite were analyzed by using finite element method (FEM). Three models of fiber array in the composite and the effect of fiber distance on the RTS were discussed. In all the three models compressive stress was found in the radial direction and tensile stress in the tangential direction. It is pointed out that, in real composite system, hexagonal fiber geometry is superior because the distribution and the magnitude of the residual stress are similar to those in single fiber model. In square fiber geometry, it is easier to make the matrix crack due to the larger residual tangential stress. RTS becomes very large and changes violently when the fiber distance is less than 15 μm or so, therefore too high fiber volume is apt to result in matrix crack.

Hot deformation and processing maps of titanium matrix composite

The hot deformation characteristics of TiC particles reinforced titanium matrix composite were studied in the temperature range from 900 ℃ to 1 150 ℃ and in the strain rate range of 10-3-10 s-1 by compression tests with Gleeble1500 simulator system. The flow behavior was described by the hyperbolic sine constitutive equation,and an average activation energy of 436.72 kJ/mol was calculated. The processing maps were calculated and analyzed according to the dynamic materials model. The maps show domains in some combinations of temperatures and strain rates and these domains are correlated with specific microstructural processes occurring during hot deformation by metallographic investigations and kinetic analysis. At the low strain rate domain occurs in the temperature range of 900-960 ℃ and strain rate range of 0.001-0.03 s-1 superplasticity and dynamic recrystallization were observed. At a high strain rate domain occurs in the temperature range of 980-1 120 ℃ and strain rate range of 0.1-10 s-1 the β phase undergoes dynamic recrystallization. Also,at a strain rate range of 0.1-10 s-1 and the temperature range of 900-930 ℃,the material exhibits flow localization.

<ji>In Situ</i>Synthesis of Titanium Matrix Composite (Ti-TiB-TiC) through Sintering of TiH₂-B₄C

Fully densified in-situ reinforced (TiB + TiC)-Ti matrix composites have been produced from TiH2-B4C mixtures using pressure less sintering or hot pressing technique. With increasing content of reinforcing components the sintering is retarded. The materials with more than 20 - 30 vol. % were only completely densified by hot pressing technique. Hardness values of the Ti matrix composites produced are up to 5 times higher than that of the sintered pure Ti produced from TiH2. This is caused beside the higher hardness of the inclusions also by hardening the matrix due to solubility of B and C in the titanium.

Mechanical properties and thermal deformation behavior of low-cost titanium matrix composites prepared by a structure-optimized Y_(2)O_(3) crucible

A porous yttrium oxide crucible with both thermal shock resistance and erosion resistance was developed by structural optimization.The structure-optimized yttrium oxide crucible was proved to be suitable for melting highly reactive titanium alloys.Low-cost(TiB+Y2O_(3))-reinforced titanium matrix composites were prepared by vacuum induction melting using the prepared crucible.The thermal deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of(TiB+Y2O_(3))-reinforced tita-nium matrix composites were investigated at deformation temperatures of 900-1100℃with strain rates of 0.001-1 s-1.The results showed that the prepared yttrium oxide crucible had both thermal shock and erosion resistance,the low-cost titanium matrix composites could be prepared by the developed yttrium oxide crucibles which were homogeneous in composition and highly sensitive to strain rate and deformation temperature,and the peak and theological stresses decreased with increasing deformation temperature or decreasing strain rate.In addition,the average thermal deformation activation energy of the composites was calculated to be 574.6 kJ/mol by establishing the Arrhenius constitutive equation in consideration of the strain variables,and the fitting goodness between the predicted stress value and the measured value was 97.624%.The calculated analysis of the hot processing map showed that the best stable thermal deformation zone was located in the deformation temperature range of 1000-1100℃and strain rate range of 0.001-0.01 s^(-1),where the peak dissipation coefficient wasη=71%.In this zone,the deformation of the reinforcement and matrix was harmonious,the reinforcement was less likely to fracture,dynamic recrystallization occurred more fully and the alloy exhibited near steady rheological characteristics.

Improved mechanical properties in titanium matrix composites reinforced with quasi-continuously networked graphene nanosheets and in-situ formed carbides

In order to construct quasi-continuously networked reinforcement in titanium(Ti)matrix composites,in this study,Ti-6 Al-4 V spherical powders were uniformly coated with a graphene nanosheet(GNS)layer by high energy ball milling and then consolidated by spark plasma sintering.Results showed that the GNS layer on the powder surface inhibited continuous metallurgy bonding between powders during sintering,which led to the formation of quasi-networked hybrid reinforcement structure consisting of insitu Ti C and remained GNSs.The networked GNSs/Ti64 composite possessed noticeably higher tensile strength but similar ductility to the Ti64 alloy,leading to both better tensile strength and ductility than the GNSs/Ti composite with randomly dispersed GNSs and Ti C.The formation mechanism and the fracture mechanism of the networked hybrid reinforcement were discussed.The results provided a method to fabricate Ti matrix composites with high strength and good ductility.

Rapid in-situ reaction synthesis of novel TiC and carbon nanotubes reinforced titanium matrix composites

In-situ TiC and remained multi-walled carbon nanotubes（MWCNTs） reinforced Ti composites were synthesized using vacuum hot-press sintering and hot rolling. The effect of weight fraction of MWCNTs on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the Ti composites was investigated. The results indicated that both proportion and particle size of TiC increased in proportion to MWCNTs content, which resulted in different matrix microstructure, and the grains were obviously refined after rolling deformation. The hardness tests indicated that MWCNTs addition could make the composites harden, and 18.4%improvement in hardness was obtained after hot rolling. The significant improvement in both strength and hardness could be attributed to grain refinement, solid solution strengthening of carbon and dispersion strengthening of TiC particles and remained MWCNTs. A good combination of strength and ductility were achieved in Ti–1 wt% MWCNTs composites, which were in accordance with the uniform distribution of smaller-sized TiC particles in Ti matrix.

High Temperature Properties of Discontinuously Reinforced Titanium Matrix Composites:A Review

Further improvement on high temperature durability is one of the most important aims except for high specific strength, high specific stiffness, and excellent wear resistance, to design and fabricate discontinuously reinforced titanium matrix composites （DRTMCs）. Their superior properties render them extensive application potential in aerospace and military industries due to the urgent demand for the materials with characteristics of lightweight, high strength, high stiffness and high temperature durability. With development on fabrication methods and room temperature properties, testing, characterizing, evaluating and further increasing high temperature properties of DRTMCs are becoming more and more important to promote their applications. This review provides insights and comprehensions on the high temperature tensile properties, superplastic tensile properties, creep behaviors, and high temperature oxidation behaviors of DRTMCs,

Manufacturing Titanium Metal Matrix Composites by Consolidating Matrix Coated Fibres

Titanium metal matrix composites （TiMMCs） reinforced by continuous silicon carbide fibres are being developed for aerospace applications. TiMMCs manufactured by the consolidation of matrix-coated fibre （MCF） method offer optimum properties because of the resulting uniform fibre distribution, minimum fibre damage and fibre volume fraction control. In this paper, the consolidation of Ti-6Al-4V matrix-coated SiC fibres during vacuum hot pressing has been investigated. Experiments were carried out on multi-ply MCFs under vacuum hot pressing （VHP）. In contrast to most of existing studies, the fibre, arrangement has been carefully controlled either in square or hexagonal arrays throughout the consolidated sample. This has enabled the dynamic consolidation behaviour of MCFs to be demonstrated by eliminating the fibre re-arrangement during the VHP process. The microstructural evolution of the matrix coating was reported and the deformation mechanisms involved were discussed.

Insight into the formation mechanism and interaction of matrix/TiB whisker textures and their synergistic effect on property anisotropy in titanium matrix composites

Considerable studies on processed pure titanium and titanium alloys have proved the possibility of prop-erty anisotropy induced by crystallographic textures,but limited information is available for the intrinsic coupling of matrix and reinforcement textures and their synergistic effect on property anisotropy in tita-nium matrix composite(TMCs).In the present work,an advanced EBSD/EDS coupling method was used to investigate the formation mechanism of primaryαand secondaryαtextures in the matrix alloy.It is revealed for the first time that the reinforcement TiB_(w)displays a{100}<010>texture after hot rolling and has little effect on the matrix texture component but weakens texture intensity.Significant anisotropies in the tensile strength and ductility can be all noted at room and high-temperatures,which is the syn-ergistic effect of the matrix texture and the aligned TiB_(w).The mean Schmid factor of each slip system was calculated to evaluate the influence of matrix texture on the minimum active stress of slip deforma-tion in the different tensile directions.The analysis shows that the strong T-type matrix texture results in higher strength but lower ductility when loaded in the transverse direction.Moreover,a generalized shear-lag model was modified to quantitatively evaluate the strengthening contribution of aligned TiB_(w),which decreases with increasing off-axis angle and test temperature.A new parameter,defined as the critical aspect ratio of the off-axis whisker,was proposed to rationalize why the TiB_(w) failure mechanism converts from TiB_(w) fracture to TiB_(w)/matrix interfacial debonding with increasing off-axis angle and test temperature.

Grinding behavior and surface appearance of(TiC_p+ TiB_w)/Ti-6Al-4V titanium matrix composites

（TiCp＋ TiBw）/Ti-6Al-4V titanium matrix composites（PTMCs） have broad application prospects in the aviation and nuclear field. However, it is a typical difficult-to-cut material due to high hardness of the reinforcements, high strength and low thermal conductivity of Ti-6Al-4V alloy matrix. Grinding experiments with vitrified CBN wheels were conducted to analyze comparatively the grinding performance of PTMCs and Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Grinding force and force ratios, specific grinding energy, grinding temperature, surface roughness, ground surface appearance were discussed. The results show that the normal grinding force and the force ratios of PTMCs are much larger than that of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Low depth of cut and high workpiece speed are generally beneficial to achieve the precision ground surface for PTMCs. The hard reinforcements of PTMCs are mainly removed in the ductile mode during grinding. However, the removal phenomenon of the reinforcements due to brittle fracture still exists, which contributes to the lower specific grinding energy and grinding temperature of PTMCs than Ti-6Al-4V alloy.