Hydride structures in Ti-aluminides subjected to high temperature and hydrogen pressure charging conditions

Abstract

The distribution and chemistry of hydrides produced in single and dual phase alloys with a composition near TiAl have been investigated by using a combination of TEM and x-ray diffraction techniques. The alloys were exposed at 650 °C to 13.8 MPa of gaseous H2 for 100 h. In the single-phase gamma alloy, large hydrides preferentially nucleated on the grain boundaries and matrix dislocations and a population of small hydrides was distributed throughout the matrix. X-ray and electron diffraction patterns from these hydrides indicated that they have an fcc structure with a lattice parameter of 0.45 nm. EDAX analysis of the hydrides showed that they were enriched in Ti. The hydrides were mostly removed by vacuum annealing at 800 °C for 24 h. On dissolution of the hydrides, the chemistry of hydride-free regions of the grain boundary returned to the matrix composition, suggesting that Ti segregation accompanied the hydride formation rather than Ti enrichment causing the formation of the hydride. The hydrogen content in the two-phase (γ-α2) alloy was approximately three times that of the single phase alloy, which was presumably a consequence of the presence of the α2-Ti3Al phase in the two-phase alloy. The hydrides in the two-phase material were shown by x-ray diffraction to have an fcc structure and were removed on annealing in vacuum at 800 °C for 24 h.