High-throughput determination of mechanical and diffusion properties in the Ti–Nb–Fe alloys

Abstract

Accurate Young's modulus, hardness, and interdiffusion coefficient are the necessary information for the design and production of biomedical multicomponent alloys. In this work, five sets of ternary Ti–Nb–Fe diffusion couples were prepared after annealing at 1273 K for 25 h. The composition-dependent Young's moduli and hardness in the bcc Ti–Nb–Fe system were experimentally determined by means of nanoindentation and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) techniques. Moreover, the main and cross interdiffusion coefficients of Ti–Nb–Fe alloys at 1273 K were confirmed from the composition gradients of the diffusion couples by using a pragmatic numerical inverse method. A composition-dependent database on the mechanical and diffusion properties of Ti–Nb–Fe alloys was carefully established and utilized for the discussion of the processability during the hot workability. The results indicated that Fe concentration control could be very helpful for the development of Ti–Nb–Fe alloys with low Young's modulus, high hardness, and nice processability during the hot working.