The research and development of c-TiAl based alloys for aero-engine and automotive components have been the target of several R & D projects since more than 20 years. [1][2][3] Titanium aluminides are considered for future advanced aero-engines due to their potential of significant component weight savings. Although, remarkable progress has been made, today, titanium aluminides have not been applied for aeroengine parts. Both fundamental materials research and design as well as production technologies have achieved an advanced state of maturity. But overall, the limited tensile ductility, poor crack propagation resistance and detrimental effects of defects, damage and long term cycling loads as well as exposure to hot oxidizing atmospheres on the fatigue life are the mayor concerns in the area of aero-engine components reliability and lifetime issues. There are further needs of understanding the source and effect of the different relevant damages and defects on the life-prediction for a particular titanium aluminide alloy and aero engine component. The attempts of scaling up the production of ingot materials, castings and forgings, have not yet met the required targets of reproducibility and affordability. Large-scale production of titanium aluminides ingots and parts requires further alloy and process development to become a reliable technology. Current titanium and nickel alloys exhibit balanced properties and achieve all requirements of the current design practices.Intermetallic c-TiAl based alloys are certainly among the most promising candidates to fulfill the required thermal and mechanical specifications. Especially, TiAl alloys with high Nb-contents showing a baseline composition of Ti-(42-45)Al-(5-10)Nb-(0-0.5)B (all compositions are stated in at%), termed TNB alloys, have attracted much attention because of their high creep strength, good ductility at room temperature, good fatigue properties, and excellent oxidation resistance. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Nb reduces the stacking fault energy in c-TiAl, retards diffusion processes and modifies the structure of the oxidation layer. [4,6,8] Cast alloys based on Ti-(42-45)Al, which solidify via the body-centered cubic b-phase, exhibit an isotropic, equiaxed and texture-free microstructure with modest micro-segregation, whereas peritectic alloys (solidification via the hexagonal a-phase) show anisotropic microstructures as well as significant texture and segregation. [9] Alloy design concepts for c-TiAl based alloys showing refined cast microstructures were recently reported by Imayev et al. [10] An alloy design strategy to improve the hot-workability of TiAl alloys is to exploit a combination of thermo-mechanical processing and additional alloying elements to induce the disordered b-phase at elevated temperatures as ductile phase. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The disordered b-phase with bcc lattice provides a sufficient number of independent slip systems. Thus, it may improve the deformability at elevated temperature, where, for example, processes such as rollin...

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The present paper summarizes our progress in establishing a novel production technology for -TiAl components to be used in advanced aircraft engines. In the beginning the main emphasis is put on the design of a -TiAl based alloy which exhibits excellent hot-workability. Then, the development of a “near conventional” hot-die forging route for this type of intermetallic material is described. Finally, the effect of two-step heat-treatments on the microstructure and the mechanical properties is discussed. Because of the small “deformation window” hot-working of -TiAl alloys is a complex and difficult task and, therefore, isothermal forming processes are favoured. In order to increase the deformation window a novel Nb and Mo containing -TiAl based alloy (TNMTM alloy) was developed, which solidifies via the β-phase and exhibits an adjustable β/B2-phase volume fraction. Due to high volume fractions of -phase at elevated temperatures the alloy can be hot-die forged under near conventional conditions, which means that conventional forging equipment with minor and inexpensive modifications can be used. Examples for the fabrication of -TiAl components employing a near conventional forging route are given. With subsequent heat-treatments balanced mechanical properties can be achieved. The results of tensile and creep tests conducted on forged and subsequently heat-treated TNMTM material are presented.

a b s t r a c tIn a b-stabilized Ti-43Al-4Nb-1Mo-0.1B alloy (composition in atomic percent) the correlation between the occurrence of b-phase and temperature was analyzed experimentally and compared to thermodynamic calculations. Results from in situ high-energy X-ray diffraction, texture measurements, heat treatments, scanning electron microscopy, and temperature-dependent flow stress measurements were used to study the evolution of the b-phase with temperature. Thermodynamic calculations based on the CALPHAD method were applied to correlate the phases developed in the b-solidifying TiAl based alloy under investigation. This alloy is characterized by an adjustable b-phase volume fraction at temperatures where hot-work processes such as forging and rolling are conducted. Due to a high volume fraction of bphase at elevated temperatures the hot-extruded alloy can be forged under near conventional conditions.

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