Microstructure evolution of electron beam welded Ti3Al–Nb joint

The microstructure evolution characterization in high containing Nb, low Al titanium aluminide alloy of electron beam welded joints was investigated by means of OM, SEM, XRD, TEM and microhardness analysis. The results indicated that the microstructure of the weld metal made with electron beam under the welding conditions employed in this work was predominantly metastable, retaining ordered β phase (namely B2 phase), and was independent of the welding parameters but independent of the size and the orientation of the weld solidification structures. As the heat input is decreased, the cellular structure zone is significantly reduced, and then the crystallizing morphology of fusion zone presented dendritically columnar structure. There existed grain growth coarsening in heat affected zone (HAZ) for insufficient polygonization. Both fusion zone (FZ) and the HAZ had higher microhardness than the base metal.