The aluminide intermetallics have been of scientific interest since the beginning of the last century due to their attractive properties. This is primarily due to the high oxidation and corrosion resistance of the materials coupled with their (relatively) low density and high temperature strength. Materials and processing concerns, including environmental embrittlement and the high temperatures required for metalworking, have been barriers to the wide scale use of intermetallics in industry. The current work discusses the development of a new low-energy novel intermetallic extrusion process (Reaction Extrusion). Two intermetallics, nickel aluminide and iron aluminide, were explored for this manner of processing. The effects of lubrication, strain rate, upset temperature, and tooling design on material extrudability are discussed. The feasibility of reaction extrusion of both nickel and iron aluminides was confirmed. This suggests that reaction extrusion may be applicable to other intermetallic systems. It was found that extrusion of inhomogeneous FeAl facilitated compositional homogenization during material flow, a phenomenon not previously reported for reaction processing techniques. It is believed that this finding may initiate the future development of innovative reactive thermomechanical processing methods.
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