Reactive Sintering of Ti-Al and Ti-Al-Nb Consolidated Elemental Blocks for Use as Consumable Electrodes in Vacuum Arc Melting

摘要

Explored was the feasibility of fabricating consolidated elemental blocks (CEBs) Ti-36A1 and Ti-29Al-18Nb (wt %) via reactive sintering for their use as consumable electrodes in vacuum arc melting (VAM). For obtaining strong blocks in the Ti-Al system, thermal treatment of green mixture must be performed at a temperature not less that 700°C, which is then followed by sintering at 1100°C. In Nb-containing mixtures, the exothermic effect is less pronounced, so that thermal treatment must be carried out at 1300°C. The presence of free Al is a prerequisite for reactive sintering. It has been established experimentally that the Al content of green mixture must be above 10 wt %.