Intermetallic compound matrix composites have been expected to be established as high temperature structural components. Ni3Al is a representative intermetallic alloy, which has excellent ductility even at room temperature by adding certain alloying elements. Ni3Al matrix composites with aluminum oxide particles, which are formed by the in-situ reaction between the alloy and aluminum borate whiskers, are fabricated by a powder metallurgical method. The addition of aluminum borate whiskers disperses the synthetic aluminum oxide particles during sintering and dramatically increases the strength of the composite. The uniform dispersion of reaction synthesized aluminum oxide particles and the uniform solution of boron in the matrix seem to play an important role in the improvement in strength. There is a dramatic increase in strength with the addition of the whisker, and the maximum value is obtained at a 10 vol% addition of whisker. The Ni3Al composite with 10 vol% aluminum oxide particles 0.3 μm in size and with 0.1 wt% boron powder fabricated by the conventional powder metallurgical process does not have such high strength because of inhomogeneous distribution of aluminum oxide particles and of boron. The tensile strength of the Ni3Al with a 10 vol% aluminum borate whisker reaches more than twice the value, 930 MPa, of the parent alloy. No third phase is observed between the aluminum oxide and the matrix.

The high temperature deformation behavior of Ni3Al and Ni3(Al,Mo) single crystals that were oriented near <112> was investigated at low strain rates in the temperature range above the flow stress peak temperature. Three types of behavior were found under the present experimental conditions. In the relatively high strain rate region, the strain rate dependence of the flow stress is small, and the deformation may be controlled by the dislocation glide mainly on the {001} slip plane in both crystals. At low strain rates, the octahedral glide is still active in Ni3Al above the peak temperature, but the active slip system in Ni3(Al,Mo) changes from octahedral glide to cube glide at the peak temperature. These results suggest that the deformation rate controlling mechanism of Ni3Al is viscous glide of dislocations by the <110>{111} slip, whereas that of Ni3(Al,Mo) is a recovery process of dislocation climb in the substructures formed by the <110>{001} slip. The results of TEM observation show that the characteristics of dislocation structures are uniform distribution in Ni3Al and subboundary formation in Ni3(Al,Mo). Activation energies for deformation in Ni3Al and Ni3(Al,Mo) were obtained in the low strain rate region. The values of the activation energy are 360 kJ/mol for Ni3Al and 300 kJ/mol for Ni3(Al,Mo).

The mechanical behavior and microstructural evolution during high temperature tensile deformation of recrystallizedNi3Al polycrystals doped with boron were investigated as functions of initial grain size, tensile strain rate and temperature. Inorder to obtain more precise information on the deformation mechanism, tensile specimens were rapidly quenched immediatelyafter deformation at a cooling rate of more than 2000Ks−1, and were then observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM).Mechanical tests in the range of 923K to 1012K were carried out in a vacuum of less than 3×10−4 Pa using an Instron-typemachine with various but constant cross head speeds corresponding to the initial strain rates from 1.0×10−4 to 3.1×10−5s−1.After heating to deformation temperature, the specimen was kept for more than 1.8ks before testing. The following results wereobtained: (1) Flow behavior was affected by initial strain size; with decreasing initial grain size, the level of a stress peak inthe true stress-true strain curve decreased, the steady state region was enlarged and elongation increased. (2) On the basis ofTEM observation of rapidly quenched specimens, it was confirmed that dynamic recrystallization certainly occurred ondeformation of fine-grained (3.3µm) and intermediate-grained (5.0µm) specimens at an initial strain rate of 3.1×10−5s−1 andat 973K. (3) There were some dislocation-free grains among the new recrystallized grains. The obtained results suggest thatboth dynamic recrystallization and grain boundary sliding are operative during high temperature deformation.

The effects of boron or manganese added as , Mn, , B on TiC-30vo1.% cermet sintered at 1380 and for 1 hour, were examined in relation with shrinkage, relative density, microstructure, lattice parameter, hardness and fracture toughness (). The results are summarized as follows: 1) The highest shrink-age showed about 30.5% in the specimen added BC and the maximum relative density was about 99% in the specimen added ; 2) The grains of TiC were grown during sintering and made the surrounding structure by adding boron and manganese. The largest grain size showed about in the specimen with boron sintered at ;3) The lattice parameter of TiC was about and about by adding other elements; 4) The highest hardness was about in the specimen with B4C; 5) The fracture toughness () showed about in the specimen added .