Interfacial microstructure and shear strength of Ti–6Al–4V/TiAl laminate composite sheet fabricated by hot packed rolling

A two layer Ti–6Al–4V(wt.%)/Ti–43Al–9V–Y(at.%) laminate composite sheet with a uniform interfacial microstructure and no discernible defects at the interfaces has been prepared by hot-pack rolling, and its interfacial microstructure and shear strength were characterized. Characterization of the interfacial microstructure shows that there was an interfacial region of uniform thickness of about 250 μm which consisted of two layers: Layer I on the TiAl side which was 80 μm thick and Layer II on the Ti–6Al–4V side which was 170 μm thick. The microstructure of Layer I consisted of massive γ phases, needlelike γ phases and B2 phase matrix, while the microstructure of Layer II consisted of α2 phase. The microstructure of the interfacial region is the result of the interdiffusion of Ti element from Ti–6Al–4V alloy layer into the TiAl alloy layer and Al element from the TiAl alloy layer into the Ti–6Al–4V alloy layer. The shear strength measurement demonstrated that the bonding strength between the TiAl alloy and Ti–6Al–4V alloy layers in the laminate composite sheet was very high. This means that the quality of the interfacial bonding between the two layers achieved by the multi-path rolling is high, and the interface between the layers is very effective in transferring loading, causing significantly improved toughness and plasticity of the TiAl/Ti–6Al–4V laminate composite sheet.