Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters) ›› 2023, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (10): 1619-1629.DOI: 10.1007/s40195-023-01585-w

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Microstructure Evolution and Its Effect on Mechanical Properties in an Electron Beam Welded β-Solidified TiAl Alloy

Songkuan Zhao1, Bin Tang1,2(), Guoming Zheng1, Mengqi Zhang1, Wei Chen3, Tong Zhao3, Beibei Wei1, Lei Zhu4, Jinshan Li1,2   

  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China
    2Chongqing Innovation Center, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Chongqing, 401135, China
    3AVIC Manufacturing Technology Institute, Beijing, 100024, China
    4Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Electrical Materials and Infiltration Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China
  • Received:2023-02-03 Revised:2023-05-01 Accepted:2023-05-20 Online:2023-10-10 Published:2023-07-26
  • Contact: Bin Tang, toby@nwpu.edu.cn

Abstract:

TiAl alloys are susceptible to cracks during electron beam welding because their limited ductility cannot accommodate the stress generated under fast cooling rate. In this work, pre-heating and post-heating via defocused electron beam were used to obtain well-welded joints without cracks. Lower crack sensitivity of joints was attributed to the microstructure evolution to obtain more ability of stress accommodation with the increasing heating beam current and heating time. Long-time pre-heating of 5 min and post-heating of 12 min led to reduced volume fraction of residual β0 phase with the growth of α2/γ lamellar colonies in the fusion zone (FZ). The refined microstructure of FZ contributed to the highest hardness of the FZ, and the fracture happened at the base material (BM) in tensile tests, indicating that the tensile properties of the welding seam surpassed that of the BM. This work provides an effective way to obtain TiAl joints with better mechanical properties of the welding seam than that of the BM, which is a breakthrough in the welding of TiAl alloys.

Key words: TiAl alloys, Electron beam welding, Microstructure, Phase transformation, Mechanical properties