Use of Titanium Powders Obtained by Sponge Screening and for the HDH Process in Titanium Alloy Production for Powder Metallurgy (P/M)

The titanium alloys are used in applications where high performance and reliability is necessary. This occurs by virtue of its high mechanical resistance/weight relationship, good corrosion resistance and superior biocompatibility. The alloy processing by powder metallurgy eases the obtainment of parts with complex geometry. The process can be cheaper when are used powders of smaller cost. This work has for objective a microstructural comparison among samples of the Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy, using powders obtained by sponge screening and for the hydred-dehydride process, via hot uniaxial pressing of the elementary powders, in vacuum. The alloy was characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Vickers microhardness measurements and density measurement. The results indicate that the samples using HDH (hydride-dehydride) titanium powders present larger densification and a Widmanstatten-like microstructure for whole extension of the sample.