Equal channel angular pressing followed by combustion synthesis of titanium aluminides

Titanium aluminides are one of the most promising intermetallics today. They have previously been processed using a variety of routes to generate different and unique microstructures. Recently, TiAl have been processed using severe plastic deformation by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). However the temperature and energy requirements for this approach are high. Alternative lower energy approaches are therefore needed. The work presented in this paper investigates a new low energy approach consisting of ECAP of elemental titanium and aluminum powders (up to three passes) followed by combustion synthesis. The effect of number of passes during ECAP on the reaction characteristics, product homogeneity and microstructure are presented.