Heat treatment of an alloy based on titanium aluminide

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the treatment of an alloy based on titanium aluminide. The method comprises the following steps, during which no hot isostatic pressing is carried out: obtaining a semi-finished product (7) produced by centrifugal casting, then heat treating the semi-finished product in order to obtain an alloy microstructure comprising gamma grains and/or lamella grains (alpha2/gamma).

Claims

1. A method for treating a titanium-aluminide alloy including 40 to 50 percent atomic (at %) aluminium, the method comprising the following steps: carrying out a centrifugal casting in a permanent mould in order to obtain a semi-finished product, and then heat treating the semi-finished product at a pressure below 170010.sup.5 pascals (Pa) until a microstructure of the alloy comprising gamma grains and/or lamellar grains (alpha2/gamma) is obtained, wherein the heat treating is made between 1045 C. and 1255 C. during 10 to 40 hours.

2. A method for fabricating, without a hot isostatic pressing, a turbine-engine part made from titanium-aluminide alloy including 40 to 50 percent atomic (at %) aluminium, comprising the following steps: carrying out centrifugal casting in a permanent mould in order to obtain a semi-finished product with a form less complex than that of the finished product, heat treating the semi-finished product without hot isostatic pressing, at a pressure lower than 170010.sup.5 pascals (Pa) until an alloy microstructure comprising gamma grains and/or lamellar grains (alpha2/gamma) is obtained, wherein the heat treating is made between 1045 C. and 1255 C. during 10 to 40 hours, and then machining the heat-treated semi-finished product to the form of said part.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the semi-finished product produced by the centrifugal casting comprises casting in said permanent mould filled by the alloy, so that the size of the internal pores of this alloy is reduced after casting compared with what is was before, the mould being filled by the alloy: with a speed of flow of the alloy in the mould greater than the rate of solidification of the alloy in the mould, and/or in less than one minute.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said alloy is one of the following alloys: Ti-48AL-2Cr-2Nb, Ti-48AL-2Mn-2Nb, Ti-49Al-1V, Ti-47Al-1mn-2Nb-0.5W-0.5Mo-0.2Si, and Ti-47Al-5nb-1W.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said alloy is TiAl 48-2-2: 48% Al 2% Cr 2% Nb (at %).

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining a semi-finished product produced by casting comprises said centrifugal casting in a metal mould, following by cutting of said cast alloy into parts in accordance with a blank having at least one symmetry plane.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of obtaining a semi-finished product produced by casting, which has an axis and, along this axis, a variable external cross section, comprises: said centrifugal casting in a metal mould, following by cutting of said cast alloy into parts in accordance with a blank having externally no more than one deflection by means of which the cross section of the semi-finished blank increases or decreases, with, along said axis: cross-sectional maxima of the blank situated at ends thereof, or a cross-sectional maximum of the blank situated at only one end.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the semi-finished product as cast is heat treated and is then machined directly, without any intermediate dimensional check.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining the semi-finished product produced by casting comprises: from a casting of said molten alloy, producing a first ingot in this material, remelting the first ingot in a cooled metal crucible and pouring the first remelted ingot into a centrifuged permanent metal mould in order to obtain a cast remelted ingot, and removing the cast remelted ingot from the mould and cutting it into semi-finished product, in accordance with said less complex form.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: producing the first ingot is done by VAR (vacuum arc remelting) or by PAM (plasma arc melting), and remelting the first ingot is done by VAR SM (skull melting-cold fusion crucible).

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the semi-finished product is heat treated by raising it successively: to a temperature of between 1045 C. and 1145 C., for 5 to 15 hours, to a temperature of between 1135 C. and 1235 C., for 3 to 10 hours, at a pressure less than that of hot isostatic pressing, and then to a temperature of between 1155 C. and 1255 C., for 2 to 15 hours, at a pressure less than that of hot isostatic pressing.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment of the alloy is done without hot isostatic pressing.

13. The method according to claim 2, wherein the machined part is a turbine blade for an aircraft.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the alloy is intended for a turbine blade for an aircraft.

15. The method of claim 3, wherein the mould is filled with the alloy in 30 seconds.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein the mould is filled with the alloy in 20 seconds.

Description

(1) Before this, other features, details and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following relating to example embodiments, the content of which refers to the accompanying drawings, where:

(2) FIG. 1 is a possible functional diagram for the method of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a block produced by casting corresponding to a semi-finished product in which here blades will be able to be machined,

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a device for casting by centrifugal casting in a permanent mould, which can be used here,

(5) FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the permanent mould of FIG. 3 (arrow IV),

(6) FIGS. 5, 6 are two schematic views of permanent moulds, or moulding cavities, with simple shapes that can be used on the aforementioned device illustrated in FIG. 2;

(7) FIGS. 8, 9 show schematically another example of a permanent mould, with a simple shape (cylindrical bar), in a view from the rear (arrow VIII in FIG. 7), respectively closed and open,

(8) FIGS. 10, 11 show microstructures obtained respectively with and without hot isostatic compacting, for the same thermal history,

(9) and FIG. 12 is a graph obtained from tests (numbered 1 to 9 on the X axis) and illustrates the difference between the relevant result obtained for test pieces (cylinders) heat treated with hot isostatic compacting (solid diamonds) or without hot isostatic compacting (hollow diamonds).

(10) FIG. 1 therefore illustrates the main steps not only of treatment of the alloy concerned, but more generally as a finished product, for example of a turbine blade made from titanium-aluminide alloy.

(11) It can thus be confirmed that no isostatic pressing has been carried out in this case.

(12) Concerning the treatment as such, it therefore consists successively of: carrying out, at 3, centrifugal casting, for this purpose pouring the alloy into a permanent mould 5, this making it possible to obtain a semi-finished product 7 with a simple shape, less complex than that of the finished product 9, such as a turbine-engine turbine blade, heat treating the semi-finished product, at 11, without necessarily having recourse to hot isostatic pressing.

(13) In this way an alloy microstructure is obtained comprising gamma grains and/or lamellar grains (alpha2/gamma).

(14) Next, for fabricating the finished product 9, the heat-treated semi-finished product will, at step 13, be machined in this form here of one or more turbine blades (see FIG. 2).

(15) For centrifugal casting in a permanent mould, it is possible to use a device 15 as illustrated in FIG. 3, which will make it possible to cast a series of semi-finished blanks 7, each being able to have the form of an as-cast bar where said finished part or parts will then be machined, here two turbine-engine turbine blades 17.

(16) The device 15 comprises a closed sealed enclosure 19 in which a partial vacuum can be applied. An ingot 21, here made from a titanium-aluminide alloy, and more precisely a gamma titanium aluminide, is first of all melted in a crucible 23. When melted, the alloy is next poured into a permanent metal mould 25, via a funnel 26.

(17) The mould 25 makes it possible to cast the alloy by centrifugation, in order to obtain the blanks 7. For this purpose, it is rotated about an axis A. The mould 25 comprises a plurality of cavities 27 that extend radially (axes B1, B2 . . . ; FIGS. 3, 4) about the axis A, preferably by means of a motor 29. These cavities are preferably regularly spaced apart angularly about the axis A, which is here vertical. The centrifugal forces generated by the rotation of the mould force the molten alloy to enter these cavities and to fill them. Thus the alloy to be cast, brought towards the centre of the mould, is distributed radially towards the peripheral cavities.

(18) After cooling, the mould 25 is opened and the cast blanks 7 are extracted. The walls of the mould that surround the cavities 27 connecting the metal withstand the centrifugal forces, typically more than 10 g.

(19) During the rotation about the axis A, the cast alloy will thus be pressed against the walls of these cavities under the action of centrifugal force. To do this, a rotation speed of around 150 to 400 revolutions/minute is recommended.

(20) As is known, through the rotation of the cast liquid metal, the particles are subjected to a centrifugal force, which can be augmented with the angular velocity. This augmentation is distributed over the entire mass of the liquid metal, uniformly over the entire length of each cavity 27.

(21) In FIG. 4, just as in FIGS. 5, 6, 8, apart from the cavities (in one embodiment), the schematic contour of the blank that corresponds to them can be seen in broken lines.

(22) It should also be noted that FIGS. 8, 9 do indeed show schematically a typical feature of a permanent mould, which can be used several times: the mould comprises a plurality of shells, such as 150a, 150b, which open and close on a surface (here the parting line 152) that is roughly transverse to the axis (A) about which the mould turns.

(23) A separable fixing 153, such as a bolt, is established between the shells in order, once the shells are separated, to be able to take out the cast blank through the opening 154 left free.

(24) In FIGS. 5, 6, the lines 152 also represent a parting line for opening and closing the mould in question.

(25) In FIG. 5, the mould shown has first and second opposite sides 33a, 33b along the axis 35 and parallel to each other. These two sides are in one case the side where the pouring enters; it is therefore radially internal and the axis is parallel to (or even merged with) one of the axes B, such as B1.

(26) In order to optimise the achieving of a high quality of finished parts and a consumption of material that is as limited as possible, this mould (and therefore the solid blank, the polyhedron obtained) here has, between the aforementioned first and second sides, third and fourth sides (33c, 33d) that splay in relation to each other from the first side 33a towards the second side, at a first angle and then, as from a break in slope (or change in direction) 35, at a second angle greater than the first.

(27) Overall, this mould (its casting cavity) is defined by first and second truncated pyramids 37a, 37b, the second pyramid being the extension of the first pyramid through the large base of the first pyramid, which is superimposed exactly on the small base of the second.

(28) The mould and its cast blank have a symmetry plane 39 perpendicular to the first and second sides 33a, 33b and which contains the axis 34.

(29) Provision can also be made, in relation to the angles marked in FIG. 5: for the first angle to be between 0 and 15; for the second angle to be less than 120, and preferably less than 90, and for the break in slope 35 to be situated at less than 85%, and preferably less than 75%, of the shortest distance between the first and second sides, starting from the first side 33a.

(30) The embodiment of the casting cavity in FIG. 6 illustrates a polyhedral casting cavity having two opposite sides, each with a roughly trapezoidal shape 37a, 37b.

(31) Like the cavity, the cast blank has here: two substantially trapezoidal bases situated facing the two opposite sides with the largest surfaces 41a, 41b, respectively, along the elongation axis 43, and an angular opening (2) of each of these two trapezoidal bases lying between 2 and 10, and preferably between 3 and 8, N, N being the number of finished products (designed to be) machined fully therein.

(32) Access to the inside of the cavity can be had radially through one of the two lateral sides, here the largest one 41c.

(33) Thus, in the above two cases, the blank has externallyon one given side or faceat least one deviation by means of which the cross section of the semi-finished blank increases or decreases, with, along its elongation axis, here 34 or 43, a cross-sectional maximum S1 of the blank situated at only one end, along this axis.

(34) Still in the context of thermal control, preferably in combination with control of forces, FIG. 7 shows another advantageous mould solution where, individually, the open radially internal end 45a of the alloy-casting cavity 27 has a shape narrowing in cross section (zone 47a) towards the centre of the cavity, along the radial direction B. A truncated cone could be suitable. The shape is here in fact a double funnel (in opposite orientations), with therefore a radially external end part of the cavity, which is shouldered, in order to have a broadened end part 47b.

(35) Cross-sectional maxima S2,S3 of mould/cast blank are thus found towards or at the ends, the cross sections S1,S2,S3 each being defined externally, transversely to the elongation axis in question, as illustrated.

(36) Typically, if at least one turbine-engine part is next machined in the blank with a corresponding cast form, the form 47a can correspond to the heel region of this blade and the end part 47b to the region of the broadened root, or vice versa.

(37) As already indicated, such simple shapes make it possible to assist at least some of the following: optimising the filing of the mould, facilitating dimensional checks, limiting risks of non-conformities (by reducing casting defects), easily automating subsequent machinings, avoiding creating hotspots and therefore limiting the degree of porosities.

(38) Another effect expected/produced through this centrifugal casting in a permanent mould with a therefore simple shape is the obtaining, at the end of casting, of a blank 7 having, compared with the internal structure of the alloy brought into each cavity 27, an internal (micro) structure the pores of which have a smaller size (volume), or even have disappeared, in order to tend towards a (more) dense material. FIG. 11 shows this result.

(39) In order to favour this by combining the effects of gravity, it is recommended as shown in FIG. 1: that, from an initial casting of the alloy (not shown), a first blank corresponding to the ingot 21, which will then be as cast, be produced with this molten alloy, then, for this first blank 21 therefore to be remelted in the crucible 23, the remelted alloy being poured into the centrifuged permanent mould 25 in order to obtain a series of cast ingots corresponding to the blanks 7 (which may be referred to as second blanks).

(40) For good technical mastery, the production of the first blank will take place by VAR (vacuum arc remelting) or PAM (plasma arc melting), and then the remelting of this first blank will take place by VAR SM (skull meltingcold fusion crucible).

(41) Next, and preferably, after having removed the blanks 7 from the mould, it will be possible to cut them (roughly) into semi-finished products (step 8, FIG. 1), in accordance with said shape that is less complex than that of the finished products that will finally be machined.

(42) In particular, if the shape of the blank removed from the mould or that of the finished product so requires, for example in order to obtain a favourable symmetry plane, the blank removed from the mould can thus be cut into a shape not requiring a dimensional check before it is machined in accordance with the expected finished product; see the final dimensional-check step 14 after machining, FIG. 1.

(43) In the meantime, each semi-finished product 7 will have been heat treated, without hot isostatic pressing, in order to obtain an alloy microstructure comprising gamma grains and/or lamellar grains (alpha2/gamma).

(44) FIGS. 10, 11 show microstructures of TiAl 48-2-2: 48% Al, 2% Cr, 2% Nb (at %) obtained respectively with and without hot isostatic compacting, for the same thermal history.

(45) In FIG. 12, it is, for each test (numbered 1 to 9 on the X axis), the difference between the result concerned obtained for a test piece (a cylinder) heat treated with hot isostatic compacting (solid diamonds) and then another identical one treated without hot isostatic compacting (hollow diamonds) that is to be considered on each occasion.

(46) There is thus found, from top to bottom on the graph: (on the Y axis) between 0.8 and 1, the tensile test results (maximum force Rm), between 0.58 and 0.8, the elastic limit test results at 0.2% plasticity (Rp 0.2), between 0.158 and 0.55, the results of breaking elongation tests (A %).

(47) It will have been noted that tests 1, in Rm, and 4, in A %, show almost exact agreement (superimposition) of the results with hot isostatic compacting (solid diamonds) and without (hollow diamonds). The other results are close, in pairs. And, when they exist, dispersions are small.

(48) All these tests were conducted at ambient temperature, after heat treatments, once again with a test piece (a cylinder) made from TiAl 48-2-2.

(49) In order to achieve the results in FIGS. 11, 12 without hot isostatic compacting, the tests showed that, when the semi-finished product was heat treated, this should favourably be done for 10 to 40 hours, at a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure or, at least, appreciably lower than the hot isostatic compacting pressure (800180010.sup.5 Pa).

(50) An intermediate pressure between atmospheric pressure and this range of hot isostatic compacting pressures applied to the alloy would not be detrimental. It simply does not appear essential. The test results provided are the consequence of the application of atmospheric pressure.

(51) In terms of durations and temperatures, the results in FIGS. 11, 12 are the illustrations of what was obtained indifferently by testing the limit values mentioned below.

(52) The comparative case in FIG. 10 was obtained under the following conditions (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,698): first treatment, referred to as PLL treatment, comprising a pre-HIP treatment of 1145 C. for 5 hours, HIP at 1255 C., and heat treatment at 1200 C. for 2 hours.

(53) In fact, FIGS. 11, 12 show the efficacy of the solution proposed here of treating the semi-finished product still to be machined, raised successively: to a temperature of between 1045 C. and 1145 C., for 5 to 15 hours, at a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure, to a temperature of between 1135 C. and 1235 C., for 3 to 10 hours, at a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure, then to a temperature of between 1155 C. and 1255 C., for 2 to 15 hours, at a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure.

(54) The alloy used may in particular be TiAl 48-2-2: 48% Al, 2% Cr; 2% Nb (at %), especially as this intermetallic material proves useful for producing at least partly certain stages of an aircraft turbine-engine turbine, the invention is more generally applicable in particular to titanium-aluminide alloys cited below having a composition capable of forming alpha2 and gamma phases, when the alloy is cooled from a molten mass. It should be noted that these alloys are here, as generally in the prior art, referred to as gamma even if they are not entirely within the gamma phase field, gamma titanium aluminides typically being titanium alloys, with approximately 40 to 50 atomic (at %) aluminium, with optionally small quantities of other alloy elements such as chromium, niobium, vanadium, tantalum, magnesium and/or boron.

(55) The preferred compositions are approximately 45.0 to approximately 48.5 percent atomic aluminium, and are therefore at the upper end of the operating range.

(56) Among the preferred gamma titanium aluminides that can be used, are: Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb, Ti-48Al-2Mn-2Nb, Ti-49Al-1V, Ti-47Al-1Mn-2Nb-0.5W-0.5Mo-0.2Si, and Ti-47Al-5Nb-1W. If the manufacturing conditions (in particular the heat treatment) applied to these specific alloys correspond to the aforementioned case of TiAl 48-2-2, in relation to FIGS. 11-12, the results supplied in FIG. 12 will be applicable to them. The importance of such heat treatment without hot isostatic pressing will therefore be understood, at a pressure below that of a hot isostatic pressing, preferably substantially equal to atmospheric pressure, and this for 10 to 40 hours and between 1045 C. and 1255 C. The flow-rate conditions of the alloy in the mould and of the simple shape of this mould also have their importance and are those that were used for tests the results of which are comparable to those of FIGS. 11-12.