Additivity of hardening by nanolamellar structure and antiphase domain in Ti-39at% Al single crystals

A mixed microstructure of antiphase domains (APD) and fine lamellar structure were introduced in a Ti-39at%Al single crystal and it was examined whether the APD hardening works even in nano-scaled lamellar structures. The hardness increases with decreasing APD size even where the L is smaller than 100 nm below which the hardening by lamellar refining saturates. The mechanism of the additivity of strengthening by APD and lamellar structure is discussed in the context of the geometries of slip direction, lamellar boundaries and APD boundaries (APDBs). For {1 1̄00} < 112̄0> prism slip (the easiest slip system of α₂-Ti₃Al), the lamellar boundaries are parallel to the slip direction, and therefore they interrupt the motion of screw dislocations effectively. On the other hand, APDBs inclined from lamellar boundaries can effectively obstruct the dislocation motion regardless of the dislocation character because the shear of such APDBs results in the formation of step-like APDBs on the slip-plane and requires additional stress for dislocation motion whereas APDBs parallel to the slip direction can be sheared without forming such a step-like APDB. Accordingly, APDs and lamellar structure can contribute to the strengthening complementarily.