Interdiffusion in refractory metal systems with a BCC lattice: titanium–tantalum and titanium–multicomponent (high-entropy) alloy

Abstract

In this work, the interdiffusion features in multicomponent (high-entropy) alloys of refractory metals were studied. The following pairs were chosen as the diffusion study objects: titanium–equiatomic alloy (Hf–Nb–Ta–Ti–Zr–Mo) and titanium–tantalum for the sake of comparison. The article covers the issues of sample preparation, microstructure study, sample preparation methodology for diffusion research, and experimental results. Diffusion annealing was carried out for 12 h in a vacuum at a residual argon pressure of 6.65·10–3 Pa and a temperature of 1200 °С. Particular attention was paid to the method of combining diffusion pairs (titanium with tantalum, titanium with alloy) by thermal cycling near the polymorphic transformation temperature in titanium (882 °C) within ± 50 °C. The behaviour of the most characteristic elements (Ta, Zr, Ti) in the weld area after the titanium and alloy diffusion pair joining was demonstrated. This is the first time that data on the dependence of the intensity of the corresponding spectral line for titanium and elements of a multicomponent alloy on the penetration depth were obtained. A change in the signal intensity for system elements was observed at a depth of 150–200 μm, whereas a sharp drop in the signal intensity was seen to occur at depths of about 50 μm. The effective value of the coefficient of diffusion of elements into titanium averaged over all elements of the alloying system (except for titanium) at a temperature of 1200 °C was calculated. The obtained value was compared to reference data: the self-diffusion coefficient in β-titanium and diffusion coefficients in titanium pairs with alloy doping elements.