Microstructures and mechanical properties of TiAl alloy prepared by spark plasma sintering

A fine-grained TiAl alloy with a composition of Ti-47%Al(mole fraction) was prepared by double mechanical milling(DMM) and spark plasma sintering(SPS). The relationship among sintering temperature, microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-47%Al alloy was studied by X-ray diffractometry(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and mechanical testing. The results show that the morphology of double mechanical milling powder is regular with size of 20-40 μm. The main phase TiAl and few phases Ti₃Al and Ti₂Al were observed in the SPS bulk samples. For samples sintered at 1000 °C, the equiaxed crystal grain was achieved with size of 100-250 nm. The samples exhibited compressive and bending properties at room temperature with compressive strength of 2013 MPa, compression ratio of 4.6% and bending strength of 896 MPa. For samples sintered at 1100 °C, the size of equiaxed crystal grain was obviously increased. The SPS bulk samples exhibited uniform microstructures, with equiaxed TiAl phase and lamellar Ti₃Al phase were observed. The samples exhibited compressive and bending properties at room temperature with compressive strength of 1990 MPa, compression ratio of 6.0% and bending strength of 705 MPa. The micro-hardness of the SPS bulk samples sintered at 1000 °C is obviously higher than that of the samples sintered at 1100 °C. The compression fracture mode of the SPS TiAl alloy samples is intergranular fracture and the bending fracture mode of the SPS TiAl alloy samples is intergranular rupture and cleavage fracture.