Effect of Al2O3 particles on mechanical properties of directionally solidified intermetallic Ti–46Al–2W–0.5Si alloy

The effect of Al₂O₃ particles on microhardness and room-temperature compression properties of directionally solidified (DS) intermetallic Ti–46Al–2W–0.5Si (at.%) alloy was studied. The ingots with various volume fractions of Al₂O₃ particles and mean ₂–₂ interlamellar spacings were prepared by directional solidification at constant growth rates ranging from 2.78×10⁻⁶ to 1.18×10⁻⁴ ms⁻¹ in alumina moulds. The ingots with constant volume fraction of Al₂O₃ particles and various mean interlamellar spacings were prepared by directional solidification at a growth rate of 1.18×10⁻⁴ ms⁻¹ and subsequent solution annealing followed by cooling at constant rates varying between 0.078 and 1.889 K s⁻¹. The mean ₂–₂ interlamellar spacing λ for both DS and heat-treated (HT) ingots decreased with increasing cooling rate according to the relationship λ∝ ^−0.46. In DS ingots, microhardness, ultimate compression strength, yield strength and plastic deformation to fracture increased with increasing cooling rate. In HT ingots, microhardness and yield strength increased and ultimate compression strength and plastic deformation to fracture decreased with increasing cooling rate. The yield stress increased with decreasing interlamellar spacing and increasing volume fraction of Al₂O₃ particles. A linear relationship between the Vickers microhardness and yield stress was found for both DS and HT ingots. A simple model including the effect of interlamellar spacing and increasing volume fraction of Al₂O₃ particles was proposed for the prediction of the yield stress.