Prediction and improvement of shrinkage porosity in TiAl based alloy

The present research has developed a novel investment casting process for ingot production of TiAl alloys through forming a small vertical temperature gradient on the mold. The advantage of this process is to guarantee that the castings solidify sequentially from bottom to top. The analysis of numerical simulation and experimental results showed that the shrinkage porosity of Ti-47Al-2Cr-2Nb alloy was significantly improved by forming a vertical temperature gradient of 3 °C/mm on the mold, while the increase of pouring temperature and pressure on the molten alloys had no apparent effect on the reduction of shrinkage porosity. The critical value of the Niyama criterion that can reliably predict the shrinkage porosity in Ti-47Al-2Cr-2Nb alloy was identified by the comparison of experimental and simulated results.