Fabrication of laminated metal-intermetallic reinforced composite material

Metallic-intermetallic laminate (MIL) are the one of the most common among the composites of Ti-Al system due the combination of brittle intermetallic phase and plastic metal matrix, which remains intact and holds back the cracks after they start. The great majority of MIL manufacturing methods are complicated, so development of rare-phase technologies that would reduce the labour intensity of the process is relevant. This paper presents developed technology of manufacturing metallic-intermetallic composite material of (Ti-TiB)-Al system, which consists in immersion and holding of package (Ti-TiB)-aluminum foil-(Ti-TiB) in aluminum melt. It was found that the use of foil in the technological process provides infiltration of aluminum melt without added pressure as evidenced by the presence of aluminum layer. As a result of the interaction of liquid aluminum and the solid Ti-TiB composite, a titanium aluminides uniform transition layer was formed. Of all known intermetallics of the Ti-Al system, X-ray analysis confirms the presence of Al3Ti phase in the composite. Determined microhardness of the transition intermetallic layer and Ti-TiB allows to predict the increase of mechanical properties of producing composite. It makes the application of the described technological process perspective for the production of layered composite materials of (Ti-TiB)-Al system.