Improvement of ductility of powder metallurgy titanium alloys by addition of rare earth element

Ti-4.5Al-6.0Mo-1.5Fe, Ti-6Al-1Mo-1Fe and Ti-6Al-4V alloys were prepared by blended elemental powder metallurgy (PM) process, and the effects of Nd on the microstructures and mechanical properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was found out that the addition of Nd increased the density of sintered titanium alloys slightly by a maximum increment of 1% because small amount of liquid phase occurred during sintering. The addition of Nd shows little effect on the improvement of tensile strength, while the elongation is significantly improved. For example, the elongation of Ti-4.5Al-6.0Mo-1.5Fe can be increased from 1% without addition of Nd to 13% at a Nd content of 1.2 wt pct.