Porous TiFe intermetallic fabricated by reactive synthesis of elemental powders.

Industrial applications for filtration and separation require the design of a porous material with low cost and strong corrosion resistance. Herein, porous TiFe intermetallic was fabricated by the reactive synthesis of elemental powders. The pore formation and phase transformation of porous TiFe intermetallic were investigated, and the corrosion behavior of porous TiFe intermetallic in 0.5 mol/L H 2 SO 4 , 3.5 wt% NaCl, and 1 mol/L KOH solutions was studied by electrochemical tests. The synthesized porous TiFe intermetallic formed by the diffusion reaction of Ti and Fe has a highly porous structure with open porosity of 57.6%, which is the result of a combination of the gap between powder particles and the Kirkendall effect. The porous TiFe intermetallic exhibits good corrosion resistance in H 2 SO 4 solution, furthermore, it shows better corrosion resistance than 316L stainless steel in both KOH and NaCl solutions, which is related to its larger resistance, more positive corrosion potential, lower corrosion current density, and wider passivation regions. The synthesized porous Fe-based intermetallic exhibits an excellent corrosion resistance and structure stability in acid, salt and alkaline environments, and thus exhibiting its potential in the field of filtration and separation. • Porous TiFe intermetallic was fabricated by the reactive synthesis of elemental powders. • The formation of pore structure and phase transformation of porous TiFe were clarified. • Porous TiFe exhibited good corrosion resistance in acid, salt, alkali environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]