Intermetallics Research and Development in Taiwan, R.O.C.

In this article, research and development on intermetallics in Taiwan, R.O.C. is reviewed. Starting from 1984, R&D on intermetallics has been aiming at nickel aluminide, titanium aluminide and titanium nickel shape memory alloys. For Ni₃Al intermetallics, a series of effort has been focused on ductilization and strengthening by alloying and processing. Single crystal study and creep resistance for Ni₃Al intermetallics and its alloy modifications were emphasized in this topic. A mechanism of strengthening for long-range ordered L1₂ matrix by a dispersoid of disordered Ni₃(AlCr) is proposed. For the titanium aluminide systems, microstructure of α₂+γ two phase TiAl and texture-strengthening of Ti₃Al-Nb has been investigated. For titanium nickel SMA intermetallics, recent research interests on TiNi intermetallics are centered on the premartensitic transformation, transformation sequences, high temperature SMA and hydrogenation of NiTi alloys. Lastly, an innovative process for preparing any kind of intermetallics was developed and will be described briefly in this article.