Heat Treatment, Impact Properties, and Fracture Behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Produced by Powder Compact Extrusion

The mechanical properties of titanium and titanium alloys are very sensitive to processing, microstructure, and impurity levels. In this paper, a blended powder mixture of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was consolidated by powder compact extrusion that involved warm compaction, vacuum sintering, and hot extrusion. The as-processed material with an oxygen content of 0.34 wt.% was subjected to various annealing treatments. The impact toughness of heat-treated material was determined using Charpy V-notch impact testing at room temperature. An emphasis was placed on establishing a relationship among fracture behaviour, microstructure, and the resulting properties of tested material. From the results, it is apparent that the highest impact toughness value of 19.3 J was achieved after α/β annealing and is comparable with typical values given in the literature for wrought Ti-6Al-4V. In terms of fracture behaviour, it is quite apparent that the crack propagation behaviour of powder-produced material is rather complex compared with the limited amount of data reported for ingot counterparts.

Real-Time Measurement on the Heat Release Property of Titanium Blended with Different Carbon Allotropes, under Externally Constant Heat Flux

Ti/C blended powder is commonly employed as an initiating combustion agent for preparing calcium aluminate; a dedicated test system is exploited for real-time examining of the heat release of Ti/C blended powder during combustion under atmosphere conditions with an externally constant heat flux of 973 K, which is comprised of cone calorimeter, thermal-gravimetry/differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive spectrometer, and a theoretical thermal calculation, with the aim of quantitatively illuminating its combustion mechanism in depth. Furthermore, a comparison of the heat release property of titanium powder blended with different carbon allotropes, including natural flaky graphite (FG), carbon black (CB), expandable graphite (EG), and vermicular graphite (VG) is preliminarily investigated, to clarify the effect of different carbon allotropes on the heat release property of Ti/C blended powder. It reveals that the oxidation reaction between Ti and O2 initiates the subsequent combination of TiC through a thermal explosion reaction, using graphite (FG, VG, or EG) and Ti powder as the starting materials, respectively. Moreover, EG facilitates an accelerated (fire growth index of 0.42 kW·m−2·s−1) and enhanced peak heat release rate (pHRR) of 30.7 kW·m−2 at 73 s, while VG suppresses the heat release with the pHRR of 5.2 kW·m−2 at 64 s and fire growth index of 0.08 kW·m−2·s−1, and FG favors the formation of TiC with a higher crystallinity from XRD. Additively, the prior NaOH-impregnation is favorable for the formation of TiC for Ti/CB blended powder, although the TiO2 predominates final combustion production. It reveals the chemical evolution and mechanisms evolved in the formation of TiC during ignition.

The Technological Design of Geometrically Complex Ti-6Al-4V Parts by Metal Injection Molding

In this study, the metal injection molding (MIM) process is applied to produce Ti-6Al-4V parts using blended and prealloyed powders, respectively. The feedstocks are prepared from a polyformaldehyde-based binder system with a powder loading of 60 vol%, exhibiting a low viscosity. The decomposition behavior of the binders is investigated and the thermal debinding procedure is designed accordingly. The debound parts are subsequently sintered at 1200 and 1300 °C. The results show the mechanical properties of the sintered samples prepared from blended powder are comparable to those prepared from prealloyed powder, with yield strength of 810 MPa, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 927 MPa, and elongation of 4.6%. The density of the as-sintered samples can reach 4.26 g/cm3 while oxygen content is ~0.3%. Based on the results, watch cases with complex shapes are successfully produced from Ti-6Al-4V blended powder. The case gives a good example of applying metal injection molding to mass production of precise Ti-6Al-4V parts with complex shapes in a cost-effective way.

Establishment of blending control for Hand operated Double Cone Blender

In the current study, a fundamental approach is used to establish operation procedure, for a hand operated double cone blender. Initially, assuming for a potent drug, where in, the strength of the drug is very less in the final dosage form, a one percent concentration of potassium permanganate with respect to final one kilogram of blended powder using starch as diluent was planned. With a kind of geometric progression method, at a rate of 10 rotations per minute, the final outcome of the uniform distribution of the potassium permanganate was found to be for at least for fourteen hours of rotations, leading to concentration range of potassium permanganate 0.08 ± 0.025 mg per mg of final blended powder.

Processing, Microstructures and Properties of a Ti-6Al-4V Extrusion Produced by an Industrial Scale Setup

In this paper, a Ti-6Al-4V rectangular bar was successfully produced from a 5kg blended powder mixture using an industrial scale extrusion facility. The elemental hydride-dehydride (HDH) titanium and 60Al-40V master alloy mixture was warm pressed and vacuum sintered prior to β extrusion in air. The as-processed material was characterised for compositional homogeneity, oxygen pickup, microstructure, tensile properties and fracture behavior. Variation in microstructure and properties along the length of the extruded bar were also studied. It was found that oxygen pickup mainly occurred during vacuum sintering of the green billet and consequently the as-extruded material had an oxygen content of 0.55 wt.%. The processed material had a typical lamellar morphology with some evidence of micro-cracks at high magnification. A significant deviation in prior β grain and α colony sizes was observed along the length of the bar, due to variations in extrusion temperature and cooling rate. Both grains and colonies became finer as the location changed from the tip of the extruded bar to the back end. The as-processed material had ultimate tensile strength in the range of 1068-1268 MPa and elongation to fracture of 1.2-4.5%, mainly due to the high oxygen content and non-optimised microstructure. Fractographic analysis was consistent with the variation in mechanical performances obtained.