Effect of yttrium and erbium on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-Al-Nb alloys

The effect of yttrium and erbium on the microstructure and mechanical property of Ti-16Al-27Nb alloy was investigated in this paper. Experimental results showed that the phase constituent had not been changed by Y or Er additive and all the alloys were simply composed of β, O and α phases. However, the grain size of the alloy can be sharply refined by Y or Er element. Compression test showed that the mechanical property of the alloy cannot be obviously increased by Y additive but can be sharply improved by Er additive because of the presence of fine (AlTiNb)₂Er₃ precipitates in the β phase.