Abstract

The capabilities of powder hot forging for manufacturing of Fe₃Al intermetallics and effect of forging and following thermal treatment routines on their structure and properties had been investigated. Fe₃Al intermetallic powders were produced by means of thermal synthesis at 1000°С in vacuum from a mixture of Fe and Al elemental powders. Hot forging of consolidated preforms had been carried out from 1000, 1050, 1100 and 1150°С and afterwards the hot forged preforms were subjected to supplementary sintering in vacuum at 1100÷1450°С. It is foud, that thermal synthesis of Fe + 14% Al powder mixture results in formation of Fe₃Al phase. Sintering of hot forged specimens result in increasing of strength and crack growth resistance, which values enhance with increasing of sintering temperature. Otherwise the hardness of hot forged intermetallics decreases after their sintering. The influence of modes of treatment on the structure and properties of the materials was investigated. It has been established that the strength and fracture toughness of the intermetallics obtained from milled blend after hot forging had the higher values as compared with the alloy made from the batch without its milling.