RESEARCH INVESTIGATION OF PHASE-REINFORCED HIGH TEMPERATURE ALLOYS PRODUCED DIRECTLY FROM THE MELT

摘要

An investigation has been performed to produce high temperature, high strength whisker reinforced alloys directly from the melt. The technique of unidirectional solidification has been applied to the Ni3B-Ni, Ni-NiBe, Ti-TiB and Ta-Ta2C eutectic systems. These systems are summarized in Table I. Composites were produced of aligned Ni lamellae in a nickel boride matrix, NiBe lamellae in a nickel solid solution matrix, and aligned Ta2C whiskers (29% by volume) in a tantalum matrix. An attempt to produce a composite of TiB whiskers in Ti by unidirectionally solidifying the Ti-B eutectic led to the discovery that this system is an anomalous eutectic. The TiB was found to grow in a random manner.