Embrittlement of TiAl after high temperature exposure

It is well known that the room temperature ductility of gamma-based titanium aluminide alloys is significantly reduced after exposure to elevated temperatures. In some cases exposure can even lead to brittle fracture on reloading of an initially ductile alloy. However the original ductility can be restored if around 30 to 50 µm of the exposed surface is removed before testing. In an attempt to reduce this problem, the effect of coatings combined with halogen treatment on the tensile behaviour of cast + HIPed Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb has been investigated. This talk will give a general outline of the embrittlement problem and present current ideas that have been postulated to explain the embrittlement mechanism. Additionally the protective coating methods used in the study will be presented; mechanical test results of specimens that had undergone protective coating treatments are compared to those obtained for un-treated specimens after being oxidised at 900°C for 100 hours.