Radiation effects on microstructure and hardness of a titanium aluminide alloy irradiated by helium ions at room and elevated temperatures

A 45XD TiAl alloy possessing a lamellar microstructure was irradiated using 5 MeV helium ions to a fluence of 5 × 1021 ion m−2 (5000 appm) with a dose of about 1 dpa (displacements per atom). A uniform helium ion stopping damage region about 17 μm deep from the target surface was achieved by applying an energy degrading wheel. Radiation damage defects including helium-vacancy clusters and small helium bubbles were found in the microstructure of the samples irradiated at room temperature. With increasing irradiation temperature to 300 °C and 500 °C helium bubbles were clearly observed in both the α2 and γ phases of the irradiated microstructure. By means of nanoindentation significant irradiation hardening was measured. For the samples irradiated at room temperature the hardness increased from 5.6 GPa to 8.5 GPa and the irradiation-hardening effect reduced to approximately 8.0 GPa for the samples irradiated at 300 °C and 500 °C.