A preliminary study on precipitation hardening of Ti-38.5Al-4Fe and Ti-38.5Al-4Fe-5Nb-0.2B intermetallic alloys via heat treatment

The present paper is devoted to the effect of heat treatment including quenching from the single β-phase field followed by ageing on the microstructure, hardness (microhardness) and strength properties of the intermetallic alloys Ti-38.5Al-4Fe and Ti-38.5Al-4Fe-5Nb-0.2B. The heat treatment led to formation of nanosized precipitates of the intermetallic phases α2-Ti3Al, γ-TiAl and τ2-Al2TiFe. Mechanical compression tests and hardness (microhardness) measurements showed considerable strengthening and hardening of the alloys.