Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306 317

www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Effect of aging on the tensile and creep behavior of a fully

lamellar near g-TiAl alloy
W.R. Chen a,*, J. Beddoes b, L. Zhao a
a

Structures, Materials and Propulsion Laboratory, Institute for Aerospace Research, National Research Council of Canada,
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R6
b
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton Uni6ersity, Ottawa, Canada K1S 5B6
Received 12 December 2000; received in revised form 28 March 2001

Abstract
An investigation on the effect of aging on the tensile properties and creep behavior of a fully lamellar (FL) Ti 47Al2Nb
1Mn0.5W0.5Mo0.2Si (at.%) alloy is presented. Aging at intermediate temperatures produces precipitate particles predominantly along a2/g lamellar interfaces or within a2 lamellae. Most of the precipitates are b-particles with fewer silicides. Aging at
intermediate temperatures leads to increased tensile strength as a result of precipitation of b and silicide particles. In addition,
aging yields an increased primary creep resistance but a shortened creep life for the FL structure. The shortened creep life of the
aged FL structures could be a result of early decomposition of a2 lamellae during creep. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.
Keywords: g-TiAl; Fully lamellar structure; Aging; Tensile; Creep

1. Introduction
Low density, high melting temperature, good elevated-temperature strength and modulus retention,
high resistance to oxidation and hydrogen absorption
and excellent creep properties of g-base titanium aluminide alloys make them potential candidate structural
materials for high temperature gas turbine aero-engine
applications [16]. It is widely acknowledged that the
fully lamellar (FL) structure is the most resistant to
creep [713]. Meanwhile, FL structures with finer
lamellar interface spacing have better creep resistance
[14 19], since lamellar interfaces serve as obstacles to
dislocation motion. Moreover, small precipitate particles, such as b (B2), titanium silicide (Ti5Si3), carbide
(Ti2AlC) and nitride (Ti2AlN), may retard dislocation
motion at elevated temperatures thereby enhancing
creep resistance [20 23] and high temperature strength
[24]. Therefore, a FL structure with finer interface
spacing and finely dispersed precipitate particles may
have superior creep resistance [25].
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: weijie.chen@nrc.ca (W.R. Chen).

However, microstructure degradation may occur at

intermediate temperatures, typically 800 1200 C, and
discontinuous coarsening of lamellae is more substantial in the finer lamellar material [26], leading to premature failure. Recent reports revealed that aging at
intermediate temperatures to generate third phase precipitate particles enhanced the primary creep resistance
of FL TiAl NbSiB [27] and TiAl W [28] systems,
however, it reduced creep life [28,29]. It was suggested
that the reduced creep life after aging was due to the
removal of W from the a2 into the b-particles, which
made the lamellar structure less stable during creep [28].
This work is to investigate the effect of aging on the
tensile and creep behavior of a FL Ti 47Al 2Nb
1Mn 0.5W 0.5Mo 0.2Si alloy.

2. Material and experimental details

The g-TiAl alloy used for this research, namely
TiAl WMoSi, has a nominal composition of Ti 47Al
2Nb 1Mn 0.5W 0.5Mo 0.2Si (at.%). The chemical
composition of the alloy is shown in Table 1. The alloy

0921-5093/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S0921-5093(01)01391-0

W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

307

Table 1
Chemical composition of g-TiAl alloy

Atomic percentage (at.%)

Al

Nb

Mn

Mo

Si

Ti

47.02

1.98

0.94

0.5

0.5

0.21

Balance

was investment cast followed by hot isostatic pressing

(HIPing) at 1260 C and 172.5 MPa for 4 h, by
Howmet Corporation. The material was supplied in
as-cast plus HIPped condition.
All heat treatments were conducted in a protective
atmosphere by encapsulating samples in quartz tubing.
The samples were cut from the cast bars and were
wrapped in tantalum foil to prevent reactions with the
tubing. The tubes were evacuated, backfilled with argon
and subsequently sealed. To obtain a uniform FL structure, samples were subjected to a homogenization treatment at 1320 C for 20 h followed by a solution
treatment at 1380 C for 20 min. A controlled cooling
process consisting of furnace cooling (10 20 C min 1)
followed by air cooling (\100 C min 1) [30], was
applied after solution treatment to obtain the desired
grain boundary morphology and fine lamellar interface
spacing, and to avoid the formation of Widmansta tten
g (gW) and massively transformed g (gM) structures,
and minor phase precipitation. Aging treatments were
conducted for 24 h at 850 or 950 C, respectively.
Heat treated samples for metallographic analysis
were ground with abrasive papers followed by electropolishing at a temperature between 30 and 35 C,
using a solution of 64% methanol+31% butanol+ 5%
perchloric acid. On the other hand, creep tested samples
were only mechanically polished using a Fe2O3 solution, in order to preserve the deformed microstructural
characteristics. An etchant of 12 ml H2O +25 ml glycerol +12 ml HNO3 +1 ml HF was used to reveal
microstructural features. All samples were examined in
an Olympus PMG3 optical microscope and in a Hitachi
S-570 scanning electron microscope (SEM) operating at
an accelerating voltage of 20 kV.
Precipitates and deformation structures were analyzed using transmission electron microscopes (TEM).
Samples for TEM analysis were mechanically ground to
about 50 mm in thickness, followed by electrolytic jetpolishing at a temperature between 45 and 50 C,
using the same solution as for electro-polishing. TEM
foils were examined using a Philips EM201 TEM
equipped with a goniometer capable of foil rotation
and tilting. Creep deformed structures were examined
by preparing TEM foils from the gauge section of crept
specimens so that the foil normal was parallel to the
stress axis. The angle between the stress axis and the
plane of the lamellar interfaces of individual lamellar
grains can be determined from the goniometer tilt angle
when the lamellar interfaces are tilted parallel to the
incident electron beam.

Samples for tensile and creep tests were prepared

according to ASTM standard E-8. The gage section of
the samples was about 22 mm in length and 4 mm in
diameter. All surfaces of tensile and creep samples were
machined by low stress grinding. Tensile tests were
conducted using an MTS 810 Material Test System
(MTS) at a strain rate of 2 10 3 mm mm 1 s 1 at
ambient temperature and 7609 1 C. The tensile strain
was measured using an MTS quartz rod strain gage at
both ambient and elevated temperatures.
Creep samples were tested in tension in air at 76092
C and a constant load corresponding to an initial
stress of 207 MPa. Creep load was applied to the
sample all at once, and strain measurement began prior
to loading. Creep strain was measured with an LVDT
equipped extensometer attached to grooves in the specimen shoulders, providing strain resolution of at least
9 5 10 4 mm mm 1. Deformation structures were
analyzed for samples crept for 24 h (B0.8% strain),
crept to 1.8% creep strain and crept to the onset of
tertiary creep. For these interrupted tests the creep load
was maintained until the sample cooled to room temperature, thereby ensuring the creep deformation structure was retained.

3. Results

3.1. Microstructural response to aging at intermediate

temperatures
The starting microstructure is a FL structure, Fig. 1,
obtained after homogenization and solution heat treatment, followed by a controlled furnace-cooling (FC)+
air-cooling (AC). After the FC+AC two-step cooling,
neither gW nor gM structure are present (Fig. 1) and, the
lamellar structure has serrated grain boundaries with
well interlocked lamellae. Virtually no precipitate particles can be observed in the lamellar grains (Fig. 2). The
average lamellar interface spacing after FC+AC twostep cooling is about 100140 nm, with a g-lamellae
width between 40 and 500 nm.
Finely dispersed precipitate particles appeared within
the lamellar structure when aged at 850 C for 24 h
(Fig. 3). Most of these precipitates are W- and/or
Mo-rich b-particles [30] having a thin-plate shape and,
nearly all b-particles are on the a2 side of lamellar
interfaces. Silicide particles are much smaller in size,
compared with the b-particles. Most silicides have a

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W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

Fig. 1. The FL structure, obtained after homogenization + solution

heat treatment followed by FC + AC, has a serrated grain boundary
morphology with well interlocked lamellae along the grain
boundaries.

Fig. 3. Finely dispersed precipitates obtained after aging at 850 C for

24 h, with most precipitation occurring along the lamellar interfaces,
(b) is the same area as in (a), but with sample tilted so that lamellar
interfaces are parallel to incident electron beam. TEM bright field
images.

Fig. 2. The FL structure with few dislocations (a) and virtually no

precipitate particles (b) after homogenization + solution heat treatment, followed by FC + AC, (b) is the same area of (a) but with foil
tilted. TEM bright field images.

Fig. 4. Precipitate particles developed after aging at 950 C for 24 h.

b-Particles have an ellipsoidal shape. Precipitation of silicide particles
(indicated by arrows) is still limited. TEM bright field image.

spherical shape (Fig. 3a), and are located on the a2 side

of the a2/g interfaces and at g/g interfaces, but they are
also found within the g-plates.

Aging at 950 C for 24 h resulted in an increased

b-particle size and the b-particles have an ellipsoidal
shape (Fig. 4). Meanwhile, the b-particles become far-

W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317
Table 2
Tensile properties of FL TiAlWMoSi alloy at ambient and elevated
temperatures

25 C

760 C

|e (MPa)
|0.1 (MPa)
UTS (MPa)
l (%)
|e (MPa)
|0.1 (MPa)
UTS (MPa)
l (%)

309

however, the total amount of silicide particles is still

quite small, compared with that of the b-particles.

Unaged

850 C/24 h

950 C/24 h

3.2. Tensile beha6ior of the fully lamellar structures

190210
320
374387
0.22
126158
190220
331372
0.50.53

218243
335350
429
0.230.24
184
245
358381
0.380.51

271286
408422
455477
0.170.19
202234
276315
328414
0.130.49

Tensile tests indicate that aging leads to an increased

room temperature elastic strength (|e or |0%), yield
strength (0.1% offset strength |0.1) and ultimate tensile
strength (UTS), as shown in Fig. 5. The tensile properties are summarized in Table 2. However, the room
temperature ductility remains unchanged. A similar
trend of increase in tensile strength caused by precipitation is also observed in tensile tests at 760 C (Fig. 6).
It is apparent the strain difference between different FL
structures is relatively small at low stresses (B130
MPa). However, as the stress increases, the FL structure
aged at higher temperature (950 C) is more resistant to
deformation than the unaged FL structure and the FL
structure aged at 850 C.
After tensile fracture at ambient temperature, the
fracture surface of unaged FL structure reveals large
fracture facets with clear cleavage characteristics and
delamination of lamellae (Fig. 7a). No significant
change in fracture modes is observed for the specimens
tested at elevated temperature (Fig. 7b). In both cases,
translamellar and delamination fracture dominates
within the lamellar regions. The fracture mode of the
aged FL structure is similar to that of the unaged one.

Fig. 5. Tensile curves of FL TiAl WMoSi alloy at ambient temperature.

Fig. 6. Tensile curves of FL TiAl WMoSi alloy at 760 C.

ther apart, compared with those after aging at 850 C/24

h (Fig. 3). Furthermore, the b-particles formed at 950
C/24 h have a lower aspect ratio than those developed
from 850 C/24 h and they are unevenly distributed
within the lamellar grains. On the other hand, the size
and number of silicides become slightly larger at 950 C,

3.3. Creep properties of the fully lamellar structures

The FL structure aged at 950 C exhibits a lower
instantaneous creep strain and a longer time to 0.5%
creep strain during primary creep (Fig. 8), while the
unaged FL structure shows a higher instantaneous
strain and a shorter time to 0.5% creep strain. The
difference in instantaneous strain between the unaged
FL structure and that aged for 24 h at 850 C is small.
However, the 850 C/24 h aged FL structure has increased time to 0.5% creep strain (Fig. 8).
Aging at intermediate temperatures results in a decrease in creep life, and the FL structure aged at higher
temperature has shorter creep life (Fig. 9). After aging,
FL structures generally have an earlier onset of tertiary
creep.
The creep behavior of lamellar TiAlWMoSi alloy
also shows a primary stage of decreasing strain rate,
leading to a strain rate minimum, followed by an
extensive period of accelerating strain rate leading to
rupture (Fig. 10). Aging at temperatures between 850
and 950 C does not have a significant influence on the
minimum creep rate of the FL structures (Table 3). It
can also be noted that the unaged FL structure has a
longer primary creep stage, compared with the aged FL
structures (Fig. 10). Moreover, the unaged FL structure
has the longest secondary creep stage.

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W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

Fig. 7. Cleavage is the predominant fracture mode in the unaged FL structure after tensile test at ambient (a) and elevated (b) temperatures. Arrow
indicates delamination of lamellae.

3.4. Creep deformation of the fully lamellar structures

During primary creep of the unaged FL structure, no
significant increase in dislocation density can be observed in both soft and hard oriented lamellar grains
(Fig. 11), compared with the undeformed condition
(Fig. 2). Lamellar grains with a soft orientation do not
have noticeably higher dislocation activities than the
hard oriented grains. g/a2 Interfaces act as obstacles to
dislocation movement, as indicated by bowed dislocations between adjacent lamellar interfaces. Also, g/a2
interfaces act as dislocation sources, as evidenced by
dislocation loops coming out from them (Fig. 11b), but
the number of newly generated dislocations is very
limited.
The density of dislocations increases (Fig. 12) as
creep strain increases, however, the number of dislocations within the lamellar grains is still small during
secondary creep. Meanwhile, b-particles precipitate at
lamellar interfaces during creep. Interactions between
b-particles and dislocations are occasionally observed at
lamellar interfaces as indicated by arrows in Fig. 12b.
The number of dislocations increases as creep strain
further increases till the tertiary stage, with more dislocations appearing in the soft oriented lamellar grains
(Fig. 13a), compared with those in the hard oriented
ones (Fig. 13b). Interactions between dislocations and
b-particles can be observed in lamellar grains (Fig. 14)
and at the same time, a2 decomposition occurs during
tertiary creep, leaving b-particles isolated in the g-matrix (Fig. 14b). Cross lamellae deformation twinning is
not observed within the lamellar structure. Moreover,
no trace of dynamic recrystallization of g-grains can be
found.
Similar to the unaged FL structure, the 850 C/24 h
aged FL structure deforms via dislocation generation

and movement. During primary creep, dislocations are

generated in both soft and hard oriented lamellar
grains. At the same time, dislocation movement is
inhibited by the g/a2 interfaces, similar to that in Fig.

Fig. 8. Aging the FL structure results in an increased resistance to

primary creep.

W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

311

Fig. 9. Creep curves for FL TiAl WMoSi alloy. Dotted line is the
estimated portion of creep curve for the 850 C/24 h aged FL
structure.

Fig. 11. Dislocations in the unaged FL structure after crept for 24 h:

(a) hard and (b) soft oriented lamellar grains. Arrow in (b)
indicates a dislocation bowed out of g/a2 interface. TEM bright field
images.
Fig. 10. Strain rate vs. time curves of FL TiAl WMoSi alloy.

11. Interaction between b-particles and dislocations at

lamellar interfaces becomes evident during secondary
creep (Fig. 15) and, at the same time, a2 plates start to
decompose leaving b-particles isolated in the g-matrix
(Fig. 15b). Also shown in Fig. 15, dislocation activity is
still quite low during secondary creep. Deformation
twinning can hardly be seen in lamellar grains until
fracture occurs, while new dislocations continue to be
generated at lamellar interfaces during the creep. On
the other hand, interaction between b-particles and

dislocations at lamellar interfaces is obvious during

primary creep of the 950 C/24 h aged FL structure
(Fig. 16), where large precipitates exist.
Interrupted creep tests show that void/cavity formation starts during secondary creep (Fig. 17a) and that
lamellar delamination appears during tertiary creep
(Fig. 17b). Moreover, shear across lamellar interfaces
appears during the tertiary creep in the unaged FL
structure (Fig. 18). Creep fracture occurs predominantly along lamellar grain boundaries but occasionally
along lamellar interfaces as well (Fig. 19). Voids/cavities can frequently be observed close to fracture surface.

Table 3
Creep properties of FL TiAlWMoSi alloy at 760 C and 207 MPa

Unaged
850 C/24 h
950 C/24 h

Instantaneous strain
(%)

Time to 0.5% strain

(h)

Steady-state creep rate (mm mm1 h1)

Creep life (h)

Fracture strain
(%)

0.27
0.26
0.19

3.7
18
38

(0.91.2)105
(1.01.2)105
(1.41.6)105

2759
1800+
1215, 2166

5.29
4.85
4.63, 8

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W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

Similarly, voids/cavities can be observed in the FL

structure aged at 850 C for 24 h when crept to the
secondary stage, however, shear across lamellar interfaces also occurs during secondary creep (Fig. 20).
After fracture, creep samples of aged FL structures
have features similar to those in unaged FL structure
(Fig. 19). Moreover, lamellar delamination in the lamellar grains with aged FL structures becomes substantial
during creep (Fig. 21).

4. Discussion

4.1. Effect of aging on tensile properties

The precipitation of the b-particles may be responsible for the increased tensile strength of the aged FL
structures, and higher aging temperature leads to an
increased b-particle size (Fig. 4) therefore the increased
tensile strength (Figs. 5 and 6). Presumably, precipitates
formed during aging will act as obstacles to dislocation

Fig. 13. During tertiary creep, dislocation density increases within the
lamellar grains in soft orientation (a), whereas fewer dislocations
appear in hard oriented lamellar grains (b). Unaged FL structure.
Arrows in (a) indicate new dislocations at g/a2 interface during
tertiary creep. TEM bright field images.

Fig. 12. The number of dislocations increases slowly during secondary creep (1.8% strain). b-Particles interact with dislocations in
(b). Soft oriented grains. Unaged FL structure. TEM bright field
images.

movement, making the material more resistant to plastic deformation thereby enhancing the strength. Thus,
b-particles formed at lamellar interfaces may strengthen
the FL structures by pinning dislocation segments. It is
possible that aging at 850 C for 24 h cannot produce
b-particles that are as effective at hindering dislocation
motion as at 950 C/24 h, so that the tensile strength is
lower.
Aging at 950 C leads to considerable b-particle
growth, and increased silicide precipitation as well. The
increased silicide precipitation may also contribute to
the enhanced tensile strength of FL structures. Therefore, it can be suggested that the tensile strength after
aging is due to the increased b-particle size and silicide
precipitation leading to more effective interactions between these particles and dislocations.
The appearance of b-phase in g-TiAl is not likely to
increase the ductility at ambient temperature, since
b-particles may act as sources of micro-cracking [31]
thereby reducing room temperature ductility [32]. At

W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

313

elevated temperatures, the presence of large b-blocks,

primarily along grain boundaries, will enhance the ductility of TiAl if the temperature is high enough and/or
if the strain rate is low enough [33 35]. However, in the
current work, the formation of b-particles does not
have a significant influence on the tensile elongation at
elevated temperature (Fig. 6), probably due to the small
particle size.

4.2. Effect of aging on primary creep beha6ior

The FL structure aged at 950 C for 24 h has the
lowest instantaneous creep strain, whereas the unaged
FL structure and the one aged at 850 C for 24 h have
higher instantaneous creep strain (Fig. 8). After 5 min
of creep loading, the creep strain of the FL structures
follows the sequence of unaged, 850 C/24 h aged and
950 C/24 h aged, with the unaged FL structure having
the highest creep strain. This is consistent with the
trend observed at 207 MPa of the tensile tests at 760 C
(Fig. 6), which suggests that the instantaneous creep

Fig. 15. Interactions between dislocations and b-particles in lamellar

grain with soft orientation, (b) is the same area of (a) but with foil
tilted, 850 C/24 h aged FL, secondary creep (1.8% strain). TEM
bright field images.

Fig. 14. Interactions between dislocations and b-particles (indicated

by arrows) in lamellar grain with soft orientation, (b) is the same
area of (a) but with foil tilted. Unaged FL, tertiary creep. TEM
bright field images.

strain of FL structures may be related to the tensile

behavior of these structures at the same temperature. It
can be noted that the elastic strength (|e) of unaged FL
structure is much lower than 200 MPa (Table 2), while
that of the 950 C/24 h aged FL structure is just above
200 MPa. This implies that the lower primary creep
resistance of the unaged FL structure is due to the
substantial yielding of this microstructure. At the onset
of creep the microstructure that is more resistant to
tensile deformation, i.e. higher elastic strength (|e) and
yield strength, will have a lower instantaneous creep
strain upon creep loading.
It is possible that during primary creep, lamellar
grains deform predominantly via the movement of the
dislocations that already exist within the lamellar structure and therefore, both hard and soft lamellar
grains reveal a similar amount of dislocations. This is
shown by the unchanged dislocation density during
primary creep (Fig. 11), compared with the undeformed
condition (Fig. 2a). g/a2 Interfaces act as dislocation

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W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

sources (Fig. 11b and Fig. 16b), and they are also
obstacles to dislocation movement as indicated by
bowed dislocations between adjacent lamellar interfaces
(Figs. 11 and 16).
Aging results in enhanced primary creep resistance of
the FL structure, which is consistent with previous
results generated by other researchers [27,28]. Furthermore, the FL structure aged at 950 C has increased
primary creep resistance (Fig. 8) as a result of enhanced
b-precipitation, compared with that aged at lower temperature, which is consistent with the tensile result (Fig.
6). Interactions between b-particles and dislocations
seem to be obvious during primary creep in the 950
C/24 h aged FL structure (Fig. 16b), compared with
those in FL structures aged at lower temperature (Fig.
11). Thus, we may expect that b-particles formed at the
higher aging temperature are relatively more effective in
inhibiting dislocation motion. However, observations of

Fig. 17. The unaged FL structure shows void/cavity formation during

secondary creep, 1.8% strain (a) and lamellar delamination during
tertiary creep (b).

Fig. 18. Shear across the lamellar interfaces occurs during tertiary
creep of the unaged FL structure as evident by the waved lamellar
plates. Arrows indicate share across lamellae.

Fig. 16. Dislocations in the 950 C/24 h aged FL structure after crept
for 24 h, (a) hard and (b) soft oriented lamellar grains. Arrows
indicate interactions between dislocations and b-particles. TEM
bright field images.

the interactions between b-particles and dislocations are

indirect in this study, making it uncertain if g/b interfaces are more resistant to dislocation motion than the
g/a2 interfaces.

W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

4.3. Effect of aging on creep life

As creep strain increases, dislocation activity increases in lamellar grains (Fig. 12). The process of
dislocation generation and movement continues, particularly within the lamellar grains of soft orientations
[36], producing and increasing stress concentrations at
boundaries between lamellar grains of different orientations, due to the difference in deformability among the
lamellar grains. Localized stress accumulation between
these constituents results in void/cavity formation (Fig.
17a) at lamellar grain boundaries [37,38]. As creep
strain further increases the a2 lamellae become unstable
(Fig. 14b), making the lamellar structure easier to deform as a result of a2 decomposition, leading to shear
across the lamellar interfaces (Fig. 18). Once the creep
enters the tertiary stage, void/cavity formation continues and consequently intergranular cracks propagate
via coalescence of voids/cavities along the lamellar
grain boundaries leading to fracture [39,40]. The deformation process of creep is illustrated as Fig. 22.
The a2 plates, on the other hand, begin to decompose
during the secondary creep in the 850 C/24 h aged FL
structure (Fig. 15b), while the decomposition of a2
plates in the unaged FL structure does not occur until
tertiary creep (Fig. 14b). This suggests that aging makes
the a2 plates less stable during creep [28], which is
consistent with the earlier shear deformation across
lamellar plates in the aged sample (Fig. 20a). The
formation of voids/cavities along lamellar grain
boundaries occurs during secondary creep in both un-

315

aged and aged samples, but the unaged FL structure

has extended secondary creep (Fig. 10). This implies
that the shortened secondary creep of the aged FL
structure is not likely due to the formation of voids/
cavities and subsequent crack propagation via void/cavity coalescence along the lamellar grain boundaries.
Therefore, the shorter secondary creep of the aged FL
structure is more likely associated with the early decomposition of a2 lamellae during creep (Fig. 22). It is likely
that the removal of W and Mo from the a2 into the
b-particles [28], as a result of b-formation, makes the
FL structure less stable during the creep. This leads to
earlier decomposition of a2 lamellae, since W in solution stabilizes the a2 lamellae against dissolution and
coarsening [41]. Early decomposition of a2 lamellae
decreases the number of obstacles to dislocation movement, making the lamellar structure easier to deform
thereby shortening the secondary creep stage and reducing the creep life of aged FL structures.
The increased tendency for lamellar delamination in
the aged FL structures (Fig. 21), suggests that aging
makes it easier for the crack to nucleate and propagate
along the lamellar interfaces, which may be associated
with the incompatible deformability between the glamellae and silicide/b-particles. The buildup of stress
concentration between g/silicide and/or g/b-interfaces
leads to the nucleation of microcracks, and consequently the propagation of these cracks along lamellar
interfaces results in lamellar delamination in the aged
FL structures. However, lamellar delamination in the
aged FL structures does not occur in the secondary

Fig. 19. The unaged FL structure fractured predominantly via the void/cavity coalescence along lamellar grain boundaries, 760 C and 207 MPa.

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W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

Fig. 20. Shear across lamellar interfaces appears during secondary

creep (1.8% strain) in the 850 C/24 h aged FL structure but mostly
within the lamellar grain boundary areas (a). Further creep deformation leads to shear deformation across lamellar plates (b) during
tertiary creep. Arrows indicate share across lamellae.

Fig. 21. Lamellar delamination becomes substantial during creep in

the FL structures aged at 850 C for 24 h (a) and at 950 C for 24 h
(b).

creep and therefore, is not likely a major cause that

shortens secondary creep and the creep life of the aged
FL structures.
As such, it can be suggested that the formation of
voids/cavities along lamellar grain boundaries, together
with subsequent intergranular crack propagation via
coalescence of voids/cavities, is the main causes of creep
fracture. The earlier decomposition of a2 lamellae is
likely the major factor causing the earlier onset of tertiary
creep and the shorter creep life of the aged FL structures.

5. Conclusions
Effects of aging at intermediate temperature with
regard to tensile properties and creep behavior of a FL
TiAl WMoSi alloy were investigated, the results are as
follows.
Aging at intermediate temperatures leads to increased
tensile strength as a result of precipitation of b and
silicide particles.

Fig. 22. Deformation process of FL TiAl WMoSi alloy.

Aging at intermediate temperatures results in an increased primary creep resistance of the FL structure
through either reducing instantaneous strain or inhibiting moving dislocations.
The shortened creep life of the aged FL structures is
supposed to be a result of earlier decomposition of a2
lamellar during creep.

W.R. Chen et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A323 (2002) 306317

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Research
Council of Canada under IAR-SMPL project code
6J0-07.

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