A study of phase transformation in a TiAlNb alloy and the effect of Cr addition

The phase transformation paths, transformation temperatures and phase equilibria of Ti–45Al–27Nb and Ti–45Al–22Nb–5Cr (at%) alloys were evaluated over a temperature range from 865 °C to 1600 °C. Both alloys solidified as single β-phase and transformed to γ + σ phases upon slow cooling. The addition of Cr did not affect the β → γ transformation temperature upon slow cooling. In contrast, the temperature, at which the σ-phase formed, was reduced noticeably. Upon heating, the temperature at which the β-phase evolves from the γ + σ microstructure was found to decrease significantly with the addition of Cr. In the ternary alloy the formation of the γ-phase could not be retarded on quenching, however, the substitution of Nb with Cr allowed for the retainment of the β-phase to room temperature. These results are explained by the partitioning of Cr into the β-phase, which in addition to thermodynamic stability reduces the kinetics of transformations at lower temperatures.