The Influence of the Rare-Earth Element Nd on the Room Tensile Properties of a PM Ti Alloy

Abstract:

The mechanical properties, especially the elongation of the powder metallurgy (PM) Ti alloy (Ti12LC, Ti8LC) at room temperature are less than optimal due to oxygen contamination and porosity. The results of this work show that the addition of the rare earth element Nd to the PM Ti alloy resulted in improved tensile strength and elongation. The alloy containing 0.8wt% Nd has a tensile strength of 1 080MPa and an elongation of 14%. Almost the same as those of wrought material, while the processing cost was lower. The rare earth element served to scavenge oxygen from the powder surfaces thereby purifying the particle interfaces. This together with a decrease of the oxygen content of Ti substrate plus the formation of Nd oxides resulted in mechanical properties of PM Ti alloy.

Key words:PM Ti alloy,rare earth,mechanical properties