Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and Superelasticity in Ti-Nb Alloys Manufactured by Powder Metallurgy

Ti-Nb alloys belongs to an advanced group of the smart materials exhibiting the superelastic properties. The recent trends in the manufacturing of such materials are focused on the application of the non-conventional techniques such as powder metallurgy and additive manufacturing that offer enormous opportunities for the fabrication of components with complex geometries, difficult or even impossible to obtain using conventional subtractive techniques. However, the most challenging problem in the fabrication of those alloys is associated with their insufficient superelastic properties. In order to overcome this issue, the series of alloys varied in the Nb content were prepared using the classical powder metallurgy route, involving the sintering of the powders prepared by mechanical alloying, and newly developed Laser Engineered Net Shaping additive manufacturing method. The materials were in-deep studied in order to understand the effect of the Nb concentration on the phase composition, microstructure, mechanical properties and superelasticity. The performed research allowed for the development of the fabrication technology and the new compositions of the Ti-Nb alloys exhibited superelastic effect.