Fabrication and Oxidation Resistance of TiAl Matrix Coatings Reinforced with Silicide Precipitates Produced by Heat Treatment of Warm Sprayed Coatings

Ti-Al-based intermetallics are promising candidates as coating materials for thermal protection systems in aerospace vehicles; they can operate just below the temperatures where ceramics are commonly used, and their main advantage is the fact that they are lighter than most other alloys, such as MCrAlY. Therefore, Ti-Al-Si alloy coatings with five compositions were manufactured by spraying pure Ti and Al-12 wt.% Si powders using warm spray process. Two-stage hot pressing at 600 and 1000 °C was applied to the deposits in order to obtain titanium aluminide intermetallic phases. The microstructure, chemical composition, and phase composition of the as-deposited and hot-pressed coatings were investigated using SEM, EDS, and XRD. Applying of hot pressing enabled the formation of dense coatings with porosity around 0.5% and hard Ti₅(Si,Al)₃ silicide precipitates. It was found that the Ti₅(Si,Al)₃ silicides existed in two types of morphologies, i.e., as large particles connected together and as small isolated particles dispersed in the matrix. Furthermore, the produced coatings exhibited good isothermal and cyclic oxidation resistance at a temperature of 750 °C for 100 h.