Adaptive Volume Control in Titanium Alloy for High Temperature Performance

With the increase of time, the shrinkage of materials at fixed temperature could enhance the failure of fasteners. We report a potential way to alter the volume/length of alloy automatically through isothermal aging due to pseudospinodal decomposition mechanism. The volume of Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al alloy first shrunk and then expanded during isothermal aging at 550 °C. It can fit tightly and make up for volume loss. Transmission electron microscopy observation exhibits no obvious coarsening of intragranular α phase with the increasing time. However, composition evolution with time shows a gradual change through energy dispersive spectrometer analysis. The result shows that β stabilizers, V and Fe, are prone to diffuse to the β matrix, while α stabilizers, Al, prefer to segregate to the α phase. First principle calculations suggest that the structure transition for β to α cause the first decrease of volume, and the diffusion of V, Fe and Al is the origin of the later abnormal increase of volume.