Aluminium titanium aluminides

The melting point of titanium is 1670°C, while that of aluminium is 660°C.142 In kelvins, these are 1943 K and 933 K, respectively. Thus, the temperature 625°C (898 K) amounts to 0.46 7melting of titanium and 0.96 melting of aluminium. Hence, at this temperature the aluminium atoms may be expected to be much more mobile in the crystal lattices of the titanium aluminides than the titanium atoms. This appears to be the case even with the Ti3Al intermetallic compound. The duplex structure of the Ti3Al layer in the Ti-TiAl diffusion couple (see Fig. 5.13 in Ref. 66) provides evidence that aluminium is the main diffusant. Otherwise, its microstructure would be homogeneous. This point will be explained in more detail in the next chapter devoted to the consideration of growth kinetics of the same compound layer in various reaction couples of a multiphase binary system. 

Note that in the framework of purely diffusional considerations any diffusing atoms are assumed to be available for any growing compound layer. In other words, the existence of any interface barriers to prevent diffusion of appropriate atoms is not recognised. From this viewpoint, it would be more logical to compare the diffusion coefficients of aluminium, as the more mobile component, in all the titanium aluminides. In such a case, the absence of most aluminide layers becomes quite unexplainable. It is highly unlikely that the diffusion coefficients of aluminium in different titanium aluminides are so different as to exclude the formation, say, of the TiAl2 layer. 

In the niobium containing alloy which shows a better oxidation resistance the doping of titania with niobium may reduce the dissolution of AlON. By this means a thin layer AlON is formed at the interface leading to a reduced oxidation rate. Thus it is assumed that the oxidation behaviour of titanium aluminides could be improved by stabilizing the aluminium oxide at the metal/oxide interface either by prevention of aluminium depletion of the metal subsurface zone or by reduction of A1203 dissolution in Ti02. 

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