Role of vacancies in work hardening and fatigue of TiAl alloys

The role of vacancies in work hardening and fatigue of TiAl alloys was investigated by mechanical testing and TEM examination of deformed samples. The evolution of the dislocation glide resistance during straining and after recovery was analysed in terms of thermodynamic glide parameters. Strain path change tests with respect to temperature and recovery experiments were performed in order to characterize the thermal stability of the produced defect structures. The recovery of the deformation induced defect structure was observed by TEM in situ heating experiments. The recovery kinetics is described on the basis of a recently published simulation study of vacancy annihilation.