Hot explosive consolidation of Mo-Ti and W-Ti alloys

A novel hot explosive compaction (HEC) technique has been applied to molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W)-based titanium (Ti) alloys. The precursor powders of the alloy billet were surrounded by an exothermic mixture, which, when ignited, released a large amount of heat via a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) reaction. Heat from the SHS reaction diffused into the precursor powder bed, causing the interior temperature to rise above 1,500 degrees C. When the powder bed became isothermal, it was consolidated to high density by pressure waves generated by the detonation of an explosive. The amount of explosive charge and the molar ratio of exothermic mixture to sample were adjusted to produce full-density Mo-Ti and W-Ti alloys. The billets were sectioned and examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and microhardness measurements. In context of the fabrication process the similarities and differences of the resultant product microstructures are discussed.