Production, Processing and Characterisation of Porous TiAl Alloy Produced Using Space Holder Method.

Abstract

In the 21st century metals and alloys are considered to be the base for all manufacturing and engineering applications. Titanium and its alloys are examples of these, well known for their excellent corrosion resistance, high strength to weight ratio, good mechanical properties and biocompatibility. In the present study, production of porous titanium alloys using the space holder technique was taken into account. The porous titanium alloy was manufactured by powder metallurgy process. Production of porous titanium alloys using Ammonium-Bi-Carbonate ( ) and Salt (analytical NaCl) as spacer materials with different compositions has been investigated. The raw materials used for production and characterization were obtained from the Titanox Development Ltd, Auckland, TiAl powder, HDH pure titanium powder. Processing, characterization, and mechanical properties such as test and result of optical microscope, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction, micro-hardness, Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) is presented for the porous titanium alloys. It was found that porous titanium has porosities in the range of 25-45% with density ranges from 2.5 to 3.0 for both the spacer materials respectively. Porous structure was determined with the removal of spacer material through sintering process. The sintering process of each spacer material depends on the melting point of the spacer material.