Gamma titanium aluminides are innovative materials for high temperature and light weight applications [1]. On the other hand, their hot workability can be limited by failure during hot deformation processes. The prediction of ductile damage in metallic materials can be performed by macromechanical ductile damage criteria [2-4]. If the calculated damage D parameter exceeds a critical value Dc, the material fails. Some macromechanical ductile damage criteria are shown in Table 1, with σ as effective stress, ε as effective strain, σmax as maximum principal stress, σm as hydrostatic stress (mean stress) and εf as equivalent fracture strain. The damage responds to strain localization and thus, to multiaxial stress concentration that increases fracture probability.

Gamma titanium aluminides are promising alloys for low-pressure turbine blades. A significant disadvantage of such intermetallic alloys is failure induced during forming processes due to ductile damage and flow instabilities. Previous investigations on a gamma titanium aluminide alloy (TNM), have shown ductile damage due to tensile stress components and instabilities such as shear bands, pores and micro-cracks at low temperatures and high strain rates. The main part of the current work is to delineate damage and unstable regions in the low temperature region. Hot deformation experiments are conducted on a Gleeble®3800 thermomechanical treatment simulator to obtain flow curves to be implemented in a finite element method (FEM) code. Instabilities in the material are described by existing instability criteria as proposed by Semiatin and Jonas and implemented into FEM code DEFORMTM 2D. Predictions of ductile damage models and the instability parameter are validated through detailed microstructural studies of deformed specimens analysed by light optical- and scanning electron microscopy.