OBTAINING INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS IN Al–Ti–Zn SYSTEM

Abstract

Binary intermetallic compounds – titanium aluminides (TiAl, Ti3Al) – when added to the alloys, significantly increase their strength and special properties. The most promising direction to produce intermetallic compounds are mechanochemical technologies, including mechanical alloy building. Mechanical alloying makes it possible to introduce much smaller particles into the metal matrix than can be achieved using standard powder metallurgy technologies. In addition to mechanical synthesis, aluminum-based intermetallic compounds were produced by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) of solid chemical compounds. The synthesis was carried out according to a multistage scheme: preparation of titanium and aluminum powder, mixing; synthesis of the Al3Ti intermetallic compound by the SHS method in vacuum followed by mechanical activation of stoichiometric charges. The aim of the research was to study the dynamics of the development of nanodispersed phases in the process of synthesis during mechanical alloying. The power absorbed by the unit mass of the material for different processing times of the charge was calculated. When the level of the specific power (dose) of mechanical treatment was 3.5 kJ/g, the maximum content of intermetallic compound in the resulting material was achieved. Based on calculations and the data obtained during X-ray phase analysis, the dependence of the change in the content of ternary intermetallic compounds in the final product on the absorbed power was determined. As a result of the studies using raster electron microscopy and X-ray analysis, it was found that mechanical alloying of nanostructured intermetallic compounds Ti4ZnAl11 and Ti25Zn9Al66 with the size of nanodisperse phases less than 12 nm in the Al–Ti–Zn system, the weight ratio of proportion of the latter reaches 74 %.