Preparation and Characterization of High Temperature Titanium Alloy Ti–60 Powders

The high temperature titanium alloy Ti–60 powder was prepared by Electrode Induction Melting Gas Atomization (EIGA) method. The variation in chemistry between nominal composition and powder was minimal and the increment of oxygen during gas atomization was less than 100×10 6, which insured the alloy composition and purity of the powder. The powder size distribution followed Gaussian distribution and the medium diameter (d50) was about 100 μm, which was decreased with the increasing of argon gas pressure during atomization process. The powder was nearly spherical and some powder particles were irregular. Some powders were hollow and the percentage of the hollow powder increased with the increase of powder diameter. The powder surface showed an obvious characteristic of solidification with distinct secondary dendrite and the rich–neodymium phase became apparent with the increase of neodymium content. The powder microstructure was composed of α martensite phase formed upon the high rate solidification process, which decomposed at 700oC micro–contently and at 850oC heavily.