Microstructure and Vickers hardness of mechanically alloyed and spark plasma sintered Ti-2Zn-22Si-11B and Ti-6Zn-22Si-11B alloys

Abstract This work reports on effect of zinc and milling time on microstructure and Vickers hardness of mechanically alloyed and spark plasma sintered (66,7-x)Ti-xZn-22,2Si-11,1B alloys (at.-%, with x = 2 and 6 at.-%). Ball milling at different times (20, 60, 180 and 300 min) was performed under argon atmosphere in a planetary ball mill from these elemental powder mixtures. Cylinder bodies with 10 mm diameter were consolidated by spark plasma sintering (1100 °C, 12 min, 20 MPa) under argon atmosphere. As-milled powders and sintered Ti-Zn-Si-B samples were evaluated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, laser diffraction particle size analysis, and Vickers hardness tests. It was noted a similar behavior during ball milling of Ti-Zn-Si-B powder mixtures. Only the α-Ti and Si peaks were indexed in XRD patterns of Ti-Zn-Si-B powders milled for 300 min. Rietveld refining indicated that the amount of amorphous structures has increased during milling up to 300 min, which was more pronounced for the Ti-6Zn-22Si-11B powders. The particle sizes of the Ti-2Zn-22Si-11B and Ti-6Zn-22Si-11B powder mixtures increased during milling from 94 (20 min) to 156 (300 min) μm and from 101 (20 min) to 136 (300 min) μm, respectively. Coherently, the average specific surface area of powder particles was continuously reduced during milling. Despite the adopted parameters, the SPS process produced dense Ti-xZn-22Si-11B (x = 2 and 6 at.-%) alloys with 98% from their theoretical specific mass. Regardless of milling time, the Ti 6 Si 2 B formation was inhibited in microstructure of the spark plasma sintered Ti-6Zn-22Si-11B alloy previously milled for longer times. EDS analysis indicated that the Ti 6 Si 2 B phase dissolved close to 1.8 at.-% Zn. Beside the TiB and Ti 5 Si 3 , the Ti 2 Zn and Ti 3 Zn (not explored) phases were also found in microstructure of sintered Ti-Zn-Si-B alloys. The Ti-2Zn-22Si-11B alloy presented average Vickers hardness values higher than 1050 HV whereas the Ti-6Zn-22Si-11B alloy varied between 970 and 1036 HV, which could be associated with the Ti 6 Si 2 B formation.