Evolution of Unidirectional Solidification Microstructure and Hydrogenated Treatment of Nb-Ti-Co Quasiperitectic Alloys

Abstract

Titanium alloys have a wide range of applications, and the internal placement of hydrogen into them can modulate the microstructure of the alloys and thus have great potential for further development. However, few studies have been reported on the application of this technique to Nb-Ti-Co ternary alloys, which needs to be urgently investigated. In this paper, four types of alloys (Nb10Ti61Co29, Nb15Ti55Co30, Nb20Ti50Co30, and Nb25Ti50Co25) are selected near the eutectic point of the phase diagram to study their placement of hydrogen by both static and dynamic processes of hydrogen’s placements, focusing on the effects of the temperature, time, and hydrogen-flow rate of such processes on the amount of hydrogen placements. The relationship between the hydrogen replacement parameters and the mechanical properties of the alloys is constructed. The results show that the placed-hydrogen amount of Nb-Ti-Co as-cast alloy grows with the increase of hydrogen-flow rate and soaking (or holding) time, with an upper limit of the placed-hydrogen amount, and the pattern of the directionally- solidified alloys is similar to that of the as-cast alloys; however, at a certain soaking time and hydrogen- flow rate, although the placed hydrogen amount of both alloys rises with the increase of temperature, the placed-hydrogen amount of Nb-Ti-Co directionally-solidified alloys is always larger than that of the as-cast alloys. However, the amount of hydrogen placement in the Nb-Ti-Co directionally-solidified alloys is always larger than that in the as-cast alloys, and the amount of hydrogen placement decreases significantly as the growth rate of the alloys increases. In addition, the microhardness decreases with increasing growth rate in the directionally-solidified specimens, and the amount of hydrogen placement and microhardness increase with growing Nb content.