Microstructure Changes and Phase Growth Occurring at the Interface of the Al/Ti Explosively Welded and Annealed Joints

Abstract

The manuscript presents a close examination of the titanium and aluminum platters manufactured by explosive welding method. In particular, the microstructure changes of the Al/Ti wavy shape interface after annealing at 773 and 903 K were studied. Three stable TiAl3, TiAl, and Ti3Al and a metastable TiAl2 intermetallic phases have been formed in the state directly after explosive welding. The orientation map and TEM images obtained after explosive welding process showed very fine grains of aluminum mixed with intermetallics in the interface region between the peninsulas or islands. After annealing for 100 h the TiAl3 continuous layer was obtained; however, the layer achieved at 903 K was much wider than that obtained at 773 K. An examination of the growth kinetics at 903 K revealed that incubation time was less than 5 min. After this period, the growth was solely governed by chemical reaction.