High-throughput determination of the composition-dependent mechanical and diffusion properties in β Ti–Nb–Zr–Hf refractory alloys

Abstract

A combinatorial method by integrating the diffusion couple, nanoindentation, and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) techniques and the pragmatic numerical inverse method can offer a great promise of mapping the mechanical and diffusion properties in multicomponent alloys with various compositions, which is very vital for the selection of refractory alloys in biomedical and aerospace applications. In this work, 6 groups of bcc Ti–Nb–Zr–Hf diffusion couples were prepared after annealing at 1273 K for 25 h. Subsequently, the composition-mechanical property relationships in a wide composition space of Ti–Nb–Zr–Hf system were obtained by using EPMA and nanoindentation probes. Moreover, the interdiffusion coefficients of bcc Ti–Nb–Zr–Hf alloys at 1273 K were determined by a pragmatic numerical inverse method. Finally, a composition-dependent mechanical property database of Ti-rich Ti–Nb–Zr–Hf system was established, and several characteristics on the wear resistance, elastic property, elastic admissible strain, and processability during the hot service were discussed. The results reveal that Ti–Nb–Zr–Hf alloys have high hardness, good wear resistance, and high elastic admissible strain, which can be utilized as promising alloys with optimum integrated properties for biomedical applications.