Texture and microstructure evolution during tempering of gamma-massive phase in a TiAl-based alloy

This work focuses on the mechanisms of microstructure and crystallographic texture evolution during gamma-massive transformation and subsequent tempering treatments, in the case of the Ti–48Al–2Nb–2Cr (at%) TiAl-based alloy. A complete massive structure is obtained by ice-water quenching. The temperature range for the destabilization of this massive structure is estimated from DSC measurement. Then, tempering is performed in both α2–γ and α–γ phase fields. Microstructure evolution is studied by transmission and scanning electron microscopy observation of samples from different stages of the heat treatments. Isotropic samples resulting from a powder-metallurgy route are used for this purpose. Then, working on the samples from investment casting, the reduction of solidification texture through massive then tempering treatments is analyzed at the light of the mechanisms of microstructure evolution identified previously.