Conditions for CET in a gamma TiAl alloy

Abstract

The solidification of gamma TiAl alloys is of interest to the aerospace and automotive industries. A gamma TiAl multicomponent alloy: Ti–45.5Al–4.7Nb–0.2C–0.2B (at. %) has been the focus of a study to investigate the solidification conditions that led to a Columnar to Equiaxed Transition (CET) in a directional solidification experiment where traditional Bridgman solidification was combined in series with the power down method. In this paper, a numerical modelling result (a locus plot of columnar growth rate and temperature gradient) from this experiment is superimposed onto CET maps generated using an established analytical model for CET from the literature. A parametric study is carried out over suitable ranges of nucleation undercooling and nuclei density values. The predicted CET positions are compared with the experimentally measured CET position. Reasonable agreement is found at low levels of nuclei density. The paper concludes with estimates for the solidification conditions (nuclei density and nucleation undercooling) that led to the CET.