High energy ball milling – An advanced processing route for effective development of Titanium Aluminide intermetallic alloy through mechanical alloying

Abstract

Mechanical alloying is traditionally being used for developing novel alloys, which are difficult to prepare by conventional manufacturing routes, through solid state diffusion. It offers unique feature of extended solid solubility resulting in the formation of non-equilibrium immiscible phases that have huge potential in aerospace and defense applications. However, the development of intermetallic class of materials has always been a challenge. Titanium Aluminide, possessing various advantageous properties, has got limited practical usage owing to the difficulty in development. The current research focuses on developing Titanium Aluminide intermetallic material (TiAl) from elemental Aluminumand Titanium powders using high energy planetary ball milling process. The centrifugal force combined with high gravitational counterforce resulted in the formation of intermetallic phase with near stoichiometric ratio. The developed TiAl was subjected to various microstructural and morphological analysis to understand the mechanism of phase formation during the milling process. Results reveal new dimensions for developing intermetallic alloys for various advanced engineering applications.