Development of Low Cost and Low Elastic Modulus of Ti-Al-Mo-Fe Alloys for Automotive Applications

Ti-Al-Mo-Fe alloys were developed as low cost beta Ti alloys for automotive springs, and designed based on Molybdenum equivalency and Bo-Md molecular orbital method. Low priced Mo-Fe master alloys were introduced as alloying elements for the cost and elastic modulus reduction. Eight Ti-Al-Mo-Fe alloy candidates were pre-designed according to the Bo-Md method. Primary laboratory scale ingots were thus melted by ISM (Induction Skull Melting). After primary property evaluation, the Ti-2Al-9.2Mo-2Fe alloy was optimized finally and large scale ingot was made by VAR for further property evaluation. Resultantly, it shows that the alloy has lower elastic modulus (60-70 GPa) and good tensile properties in the solution condition, and compares well with the other developed commercial beta alloys.