A preliminary study on precipitation hardening of Ti–38.5Al–4Fe and Ti–38.5Al–4Fe–5Nb–0.2B intermetallic alloys via heat treatment

The present paper is devoted to the effect of heat treatment including quenching from the single β-phase field followed by ageing on the microstructure, hardness (microhardness) and strength properties of the intermetallic alloys Ti–38.5Al–4Fe and Ti–38.5Al–4Fe–5Nb–0.2B. The heat treatment led to formation of nanosized precipitates of the intermetallic phases α2-Ti3Al, γ-TiAl and τ2-Al2TiFe. Mechanical compression tests and hardness (microhardness) measurements showed considerable strengthening and hardening of the alloys.