Processing and characterization of Al2Ti/Al3Ti two-phase alloys

Several buttons of each of three binary Ti-Al alloys containing nominally 70, 71 and 72 at.% Al were prepared from elemental Ti and Al by plasma arc-melting. One button of each composition was then either solution heat-treated, subjected to a two-step heat treatment, or hot forged. Each composition and material condition was then characterized using SEM/EDS and microhardness testing. The results show that while all three compositions have a predominantly two-phase, coarse microstructure in the as-cast condition, it is possible to produce an essentially single phase material through an appropriate solution heat treatment for the two lower Al content alloys. A fine two-phase microstructure can be achieved through an additional, lower temperature heat treatment step. The microhardness results show that the solution heat treatment reduced the hardness for all three compositions compared to the as-cast condition while hot forging as-cast samples increased hardness. The 70% Al alloy has the highest hardness for all four material conditions studied while the 71% Al alloy has the lowest hardness in three of the four material conditions.