Fracture Toughness of Nanocrystalline L12 (Al+X at.%Mn)3 Ti Prepared by Mechanical Alloying and Consolidated by SPS

Abstract

AbstractThe effects of ternary element addition of manganese on microstructure and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline L12 (Al+X at.%Mn)3Ti (X=0 - 12) fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering (SPS) were investigated. The SPS method was used to consolidate nanocrystalline L12 (Al+X at.%Mn)3Ti with the pressure of 50 MPa. The heating rate was 100°C /min. The final sintering temperature was determined from the observation of the shrinkage of the specimen. In binary Al3Ti, the final sintering temperature was 864°C. The sintering temperature was reduced down to 658°C with increasing Mn concentration. After SPS, the L12 structure was maintained in the specimens which contained Mn concentration of 8- 12 at.%. The microhardness test, grain size measurements, and fracture toughness test were conducted as a function of Mn concentration. In order to investigate the effect of the grain size on the microhardness and fracture toughness of the (Al+8 at.%Mn)3Ti, heat treatments were performed in a vacuum furnace ( 10-3 torr ). With increasing heat treatment temperature, the microhardness decreased due to the formation and growth of Al4C3, Al2O3, and TiC, while fracture toughness increased. The fracture toughness of 4.12 MPa m1/2 was attained for the (Al+8 at.%Mn)3Ti specimen and it was the highest value among the specimens after 1h heat treatment at 1100°C. The grain sizes were about 60 nm and 100 nm after 1 h heat treatment at 900°C and 1100°C, respectively.