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Densification behaviour and microstructural evolution of Ti-48Al consolidated by spark plasma sintering

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Abstract

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a fairly novel powder metallurgy (PM)-based process. Compared with more traditional PM processes, SPS technology provides greater sintering efficiency for the Ti-48Al alloy, due to its fast heating and cooling rates, combined with an applied pressure and electric field during the process. In this study, three fundamental processing parameters (i.e. sintering temperature, time and particle size) are investigated, and their effects on densification, hardness and phase transformations are studied. Three grain morphologies were found in the microstructures, present in different ratios in the samples, depending on the sintering parameters. A model is proposed to explain the (α2) grain-phase growth and the transformation of two types (fine and coarse) of lamellar structural development. The pore configurations (i.e. size and quantity) are examined, and their interactions with the phases, which suggest the phase-formation sequence and sintering state, are also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the technical support from Randy Cook and Greg Sweet. The financial support for this research comes from the Automotive Partnerships Canada (APC) programme (Grant No. APCPJ 411917-10), funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The authors would also like to thank Wescast Industries Inc. and Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc. for their financial, in-kind and technical supports. The supports of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Atlantic Innovation Fund, and other partners who helped in funding the Facilities for Materials Characterisation, managed by the Dalhousie University Institute for Materials Research, are also gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Materials Engineering, Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science, Dalhousie University, 1360 Barrington St., Halifax, NS, Canada

    Hung-Wei Liu, D. Paul Bishop & Kevin P. Plucknett

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  1. Hung-Wei Liu
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  2. D. Paul Bishop
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Correspondence to Kevin P. Plucknett.

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Liu, HW., Bishop, D.P. & Plucknett, K.P. Densification behaviour and microstructural evolution of Ti-48Al consolidated by spark plasma sintering. J Mater Sci 52, 613–627 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0358-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0358-x

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