Binary intermetallic compounds – titanium aluminides (TiAl, Ti 3 Al) – when added to the alloys, significantly increase their strength and special properties. The most promising direction to produce intermetallic compounds are mechanochemical technologies, including mechanical alloy building. Mechanical alloying makes it possible to introduce much smaller particles into the metal matrix than can be achieved using standard powder metallurgy technologies. In addition to mechanical synthesis, aluminum-based intermetallic compounds were produced by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) of solid chemical compounds. The synthesis was carried out according to a multistage scheme: preparation of titanium and aluminum powder, mixing; synthesis of the Al 3 Ti intermetallic compound by the SHS method in vacuum followed by mechanical activation of stoichiometric charges. The aim of the research was to study the dynamics of the development of nanodispersed phases in the process of synthesis during mechanical alloying. The power absorbed by the unit mass of the material for different processing times of the charge was calculated. When the level of the specific power (dose) of mechanical treatment was 3.5 kJ/g, the maximum content of intermetallic compound in the resulting material was achieved. Based on calculations and the data obtained during X-ray phase analysis, the dependence of the change in the content of ternary intermetallic compounds in the final product on the absorbed power was determined. As a result of the studies using raster electron microscopy and X-ray analysis, it was found that mechanical alloying of nanostructured intermetallic compounds Ti 4 ZnAl 11 and Ti 25 Zn 9 Al 66 with the size of nanodisperse phases less than 12 nm in the Al–Ti–Zn system, the weight ratio of proportion of the latter reaches 74 %.
The paper is devoted to the influence of the fourth element on the microstructure of the rapidly-solidified alloys of the Al–Mg–Zr-system. Alloys were additionally doped with high-melting-point metals Ti, Hf, W, and Nb. In the structure of all samples in the immediate area of the cooled surface, uniformly distributed intermetallic inclusions of several nanometers in size were detected. Such a structure can be represented as a dispersion-strengthened composite. A quantitative metallographic analysis was carried out to quantitatively describe the structure of the obtained particles of the cooled melt. The obtained rapidly-solidified alloys can be described as dispersion-strengthened composite materials with the aluminum-magnesium alloy matrix and the intermetallic particles strengthener. Depending on the alloying component, these particles differ in shape (spheres, plates, agglomerates) and in size (from 200 nm when alloying with Hf and W up to 1.2-1.5 μm with Ti and Nb alloying). The X-ray phase analysis (XPA) showed that in the studied alloys of the Al–5Mg–1.2Zr–(0.5÷2.0)X-system, high cooling rates of melts lead to the formation of new intermetallic compounds that are absent in equilibrium systems. The example of an alloy with hafnium additive shows that an increase in the content of the alloying component (from 0.5 to 2 % by mass) leads to an increase in the volume ratio of intermetallic inclusions (from 5 to 12.8 %). At the same time, their shape and average size remain unchanged. The additional alloying component will improve the mechanical characteristics of aluminum alloys by increasing the recrystallization threshold of a rapidly-solidified alloy.
The method of x-ray electronic spectroscopy investigated influence of strontium, bismuth and a lead and tin alloy on structure of superficial films of powders of oxide of aluminum. It is established that alloying additives are surface-active substances and concentrate mainly in a blanket, partially being oxidized together with aluminum. Being formed superficial films have impact on consumer properties of aluminum powders.
