Synthesis of Cu–Ti–Al-based intermetallic alloy. Structural phase analysis and electrophysical properties

For the first time, an intermetallic alloy based on the Heusler phase – Cu2TiAl – was obtained by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) in the Cu–Ti–Al reaction mixture. The frontal combustion modes of green mixture compositions and phase formation processes during synthesis were studied. The products obtained were studied by X-ray diffraction analysis including high-temperature diffractometry with stage heating up to 900 K, scanning electron microscopy, differential thermal analysis (DTA), and some physical properties were studied. Also, electrophysical and magnetic measurements were carried out for the obtained alloy. The results of X-ray analysis and SEM using energy-dispersive analysis (EDA) showed that the Heusler phase content in the synthesized product is at least 82 %. The product also contains copper (Cu9Al4) and titanium (Ti3Al2) aluminides. The temperature dependence of the synthesized product electrical resistivity was measured for a wide temperature range of 90–1000 K, which was 0.3 μmm at T = 300 K. The metallic type of the conductivity for the samples obtained and the abnormal behavior of the electrical resistance temperature curve in the region of Т = 770÷790 K were revealed. Thermal analysis was used to measure the melting point of the synthesized product and to reveal additional heat effects at Т = 788, 848 and 1248 К associated with possible phase transitions in the Cu2TiAl intermetallic compound. A possible mechanism of phase transitions is considered in accordance with the Cu–Ti–Al system phase diagram. Magnetic measurements results showed that intermetallic samples obtained by the SHS method feature by weak ferromagnetic properties with residual magnetization of 0.069 A·m2/kg.