Precursor Preparation for Ti-Al-V-Y Alloy via FFC Cambridge Process

Abstract

This paper presents the work done for the preparation of precursor for producing Ti-Al-V-Y alloy via FFC Cambridge process. The aim of the work is also to investigate the uniformity of the phases formed during the pre-processing of the precursor.The importance of the alloy for mechanical and medical applications is well known. Titanium oxide (TiO2), vanadium oxide (V2O5), aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and yttrium oxide (Y2O3) were selected as raw materials for precursor. The expected composition for the new alloy is Ti-6Al-4V-0.5Y. Water was used as a binder for the precursor. The materials were pre-mixed by ball milling for 24 hours and pressed using 13 mm die. The pressed mixtures were then sintered in the furnace at 900°C for 24 hours. The sintered samples were analysed using the optical microscope, electron micrograph with EDX and XRD. The result of the optical micrograph showed that the raw materials were uniformly mixed and well distributed with the presence of porosities. Electron micrograph further verified the morphology of the materials and the elements distribution in the precursor. The overlapping of yttrium and vanadium, Y(VO4) was observed and verified by XRD. The derived formulated precursor was then ready for further work of reduction to Ti-Al-V-Y alloy using FFC Cambridge process.