The Kinetics of TiAl3 Formation in Explosively Welded Ti-Al Multilayers During Heat Treatment

Metallic-intermetallic laminate (MIL) composites, including Ti/TiAl3 composite, are promising materials for many applications, namely, in the aerospace industry. One method to produce Ti/TiAl3 laminate composite is to provide close attachment between desired number of titanium and aluminum plates, so that by applying heat and/or pressure, the formation of intermetallic phases between the layers becomes possible. In this work, explosive welding was used to make a strong bond between six alternative Ti and Al layers. The welded samples were annealed at three different temperatures: 903 K, 873 K, and 843 K (630 A degrees C, 600 A degrees C, and 570 A degrees C) in ambient atmosphere, and the variation of the intermetallic layer thickness was used to study the growth kinetics. Microstructural investigations were carried out on the welded and annealed samples using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was used to identify the formed intermetallic phases. It was found that at each temperature, two different mechanisms govern the process: reaction controlled and diffusion controlled. The calculated values of activation energies for reaction-controlled and diffusion-controlled mechanisms are 232.1 and 17.4 kJ, respectively.