Study on improving the fluidity of Ti2AlNb alloy

Abstract

In this paper, the effects of main elements like Al, Nb and trace elements like Fe, Mo, W, Co, B and Si on the fluidity of Ti–22Al–25Nb alloy were investigated. The alloy composition which is beneficial to improve the fluidity was selected by calculating the thermal property parameters affecting the fluidity of the alloy through thermodynamic software, numerical simulation test of the fluidity of the alloy and verification test of the fluidity of the preferred alloy. Finally, the improvement mechanism of the alloy fluidity was discussed. Results showed that the appropriate reduction of Nb element was better than Al element for the improvement of fluidity. The addition of trace Fe, B and Si elements was beneficial to the improvement of fluidity, the improvement effect of B element was the best, while the addition of trace Mo, W, and Co was not conducive to the improvement of fluidity. The cessation mechanism of Ti2AlNb alloy is the cessation mechanism of the alloy with a wide crystallization temperature range. The composition which was the most beneficial to improve the fluidity was Ti–22Al–24Nb-0.1B. The main reasons for the improvement of the fluidity were that on the one hand, reducing 1 at% Nb and adding 0.1 at% B not only increased the superheat and crystallization latent heat but also reduced the melt viscosity and thermal conductivity, thus improving the fluidity. And on the other hand, the TiB phase refined the grains, and the fine grains prevented the dendrites from growing into a well-developed dendritic network, inhibited the adverse effect of the increase in the width of the solidification zone on the fluidity, and further improved the fluidity.