Effects of wire feed conditions on in situ alloying and additive layer manufacturing of titanium aluminides using gas tungsten arc welding

An additive layer manufacturing (ALM) process based on gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) was used to produce simple 3-dimensional titanium aluminide components, which were successfully in situ alloyed by separately delivering elemental Al and Ti wires to the weld pool. The difference in microstructure, chemical composition, and microhardness of four wall components built with four different wire-feeding conditions has been evaluated. There was no significant change in the microstructure of the four walls. The composition and microhardness values were comparatively homogeneous throughout each wall except the near-substrate zone. However, with increasing the ratio of Al to Ti wire feed rates from 0.80 to 1.30, an increase of Al concentration and γ phases were observed. The situation was reversed for the effect of the Al:Ti ratio on microhardness. Additionally, an unexpected increase in the α2phase was produced when the ratio was increased to 1.30.