Direct imaging of order-disorder and antiphase domain structures in Ti3Al intermetallic compound

The Ti3Al intermetallic compound has long been recognized as potentially useful structural materials. It offers attractive strength to weight and elastic modulus to weight ratios. Recent work has established that the addition of Nb to Ti3Al ductilized this compound. In this work the fundamental problem of this alloy, i.e. order-disorder and antiphase domain structures was investigated at the atomic scale.The Ti3Al+10at%Nb alloys used in this study were treated at 1060°C and then aged at 700°C for 2 hours. The specimens suitable for TEM were prepared by standard jet electrolytic-polishing technique. A JEM-200CX electron microscope with an interpretable resolution of about 0.25 nm was used for HREM.The [100] and [001] projections of the α2 phase were shown in Fig.l.The alloy obtained consist of at least two phases-α2(Ti3Al) and β0 structures. Moreover, a disorder α phase with small volume fraction was also observed. Fig.2 gives [100] and [001] diffraction patterns of the α2 phase. Since lattice parameters of the ordered α2 (a=0.579, c=0.466 nm) and disorder α phase (a0=0.294≈a/2, c0=0.468 nm) are almost the same, their diffraction patterns are difficult to be distinguished when they are overlapped with epitaxial orientation relationships.