Project Details

Titanium and zirconium alloys belong to allotropic materials – they occur in two different crystalline phases depending on chemical composition and processing. Investigation of phase transformations in Ti alloys has led to designing of advanced alloys with enhanced properties. On the other hand, phase transformations in Zr alloys are less explored. Titanium alloys are applied in aircraft manufacturing industry or biomedicine, while Zr and Zr alloys are predominantly applied in nuclear reactors due to low effective cross-section for neutron capture. Ti and Zr can be found in the same group of periodic table of elements. They are both prone to contamination by oxygen and nitrogen during casting and are characterized by high toughness, which complicates their conventional manufacturing. First aim of this project is to study phase transformations of Ti12Mo and Ti18Mo alloys based on knowledge on previously studied Ti15Mo alloy and also to study phase transformations in analogous Zr alloys (Zr-12Nb, Zr-15Nb, Zr-18Nb). Second aim is to manufacture these alloys by powder metallurgy (PM), namely by spark plasma sintering from elemental powders. Material properties after conventional casting and after PM will be compared. Microstructure, phase transformations and mechanical properties of manufactured materials will be thoroughly analysed. PM processing parameters will be optimized in order to achieve maximum compactness, homogeneity and convenient mechanical properties.