Morphology evolution of α phase in investment cast titanium matrix composites with BC additions.

Titanium matrix composites were prepared by investment casting in a consumable arc skull casting furnace. With the addition of BC, the average primary β grains are refined, and the morphology of α phase tends to be more equiaxed. The free energy for nucleation consisting of the bulk free energy, orientation-independent interfacial energy, and elastic strain energy is calculated to investigate the role of nucleation sites in determining the shape of critical nucleus. In the current study, the TiB whiskers were found to be arranged in the grain boundary and provide heterogeneous nucleation sites for α precipitates, and the interfacial energy is about 14 % more than that in Ti-64, while its elastic strain energy is reduced to about three quarters of the latter one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]