Grain refinement in a cast high Nb containing TiAl alloy by heat treatment

The grain refinement of an as-cast Ti-46Al-8.5Nb-0.2W (atom fraction in %) alloy by the cyclic heat treatments was studied. The heat treatment scheme included a tempering at 1250°C and cyclic tempering at 1000 and 1200°C three times after solution treatment at the temperature above o phase transus followed by immediate fan cooling. The fine and homogeneous near-γ microstructure can be obtained by this heat treatment, which causes the breakdown of as-cast microstructure and prevents the anomalous growing of original γ phase.