XRD Investigations of the Phosphorus Effect on the Oxidation of TiAl Alloys by High-Resolution Methods

Recently it has been found that very small amounts (a few 100 ppm) of Padded to -titanium aluminide can significantly alter the oxidationbehavior between 973 and 1273 K. The mechanism responsible for this changeis, however, still not clear. In the present study, phosphorus wasincorporated into the surface of TiAl (containing 50 at.% Al) by ionimplantation and oxidation tests were carried out at 1173 K inair. Improvement of oxidation resistance is only temporary up to 100 hr forphosphorus-implanted TiAl. After 100 hr, the oxidation rate increases andbreakaway oxidation follows. XRD and EPMA showed that the breakawayoxidation is connected with massive nitride formation. Two different modelsare proposed which can explain the effect of phosphorus additions on theoxidation kinetics of TiAl during the protective stage within the first100 hr. The breakaway effect can be explained by penetration of air to themetal–oxide interface zone because of microcrack formation in theoxide scale, which was experimentally proved by acoustic-emission analysis.