Directional atomic rearrangements during transformations between the α- and γ- phases in titanium aluminides.

Making movies in-situ at glowing temperatures up to 1300°C through a microscope (false color image) and from two-dimensional X-ray diffraction (movie frames) reveal the lattice correlations, gradients and intermediate structures during phase transformations in titanium aluminide. A quenched, α2-rich γ-based TiAl first approaches its equilibrium by α2 → γ on a heating ramp, disorders α2 → α and then evolves reversely γ → α, which are morphologically different processes. © 2008, Wiley-VCH Verlag Berli