A critical review of dispersion strengthened titanium alloy fabricated through spark plasma sintering techniques

Abstract

In many modern sectors, the demand for featherweight and high-temperature materials for essential applications in automotive and aero-technology have become a novel and fast-growing trend. The use of sub-micron-sized ceramic particles to reinforce titanium alloys is notable, with the goal of enhancing hardness and wear resistance. Reduced particle sizes, on the other hand, aid in improving the ductility, creep resistance, and strength of fortified materials. Nanoceramic improves a material's mechanical characteristics significantly, making it a feasible strengthener in metal composites. Latest advances in the technology of nanocomposite necessitate new metal matrix composite (MMC) development for crucial and purposeful applications. Developing titanium matrix composites (TMCs) with ceramic reinforcements (CR) using spark plasma sintering (SPS) techniques is a unique way of improving the structural and physical properties of titanium matrix composites and other related alloys. This review discusses an adopted consolidation technique for the “cermet”, ceramics-metal fusion, the spark plasma sintering, (SPS) mechanism, the necking mechanism and strengthening mechanism of the particulate dispersion in the TMC. Special emphasis is drawn to the advanced manufacturing of gamma titanium aluminide and Ti-6Al-4 V, as a typical TMC intermetallic specially used in the production of airframes and airplane engine parts, their phases, and alloy composition. The phase transformation in Ti alloys and deformation mechanism were also discussed. This helps to provide a broad overview of the scope of TMCs fabrication with dispersion strengthened technology. A tabulated review of previously published research on the dispersion strengthened TMCs, fabricated through SPS, their manufacturing parameters and mechanical properties were also a focus of this review.