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New Tantalum Alloy Plate: An Innovative Material for High-Temperature Aviation Components

In the aviation field, improvements in aircraft performance rely heavily on advances in materials science. As aircraft engines advance towards higher thrust and higher efficiency, the performance requirements for high-temperature component materials have reached unprecedented levels. The emergence of new tantalum alloy plates offers innovative solutions to address the challenges faced by high-temperature aviation components, becoming a significant force in advancing aviation technology.

Traditional high-temperature aviation components, such as combustion chambers and turbine blades in aircraft engines, must withstand extremely high temperatures and pressures during operation. Under these extreme conditions, ordinary materials are prone to strength loss, deformation, and even damage, seriously impacting engine performance and reliability. New tantalum alloy plates achieve significant performance improvements by adding specific elements, such as tungsten, hafnium, and niobium, to pure tantalum. The addition of tungsten significantly enhances the high-temperature strength and creep resistance of tantalum alloys. At high temperatures, atoms in the material are prone to diffusion and migration, leading to deformation. The addition of tungsten effectively suppresses this phenomenon. Experimental data shows that tantalum alloy plates containing a certain proportion of tungsten can achieve a tensile strength of 500 MPa at temperatures of 1600°C, twice that of pure tantalum plates, and three times the creep resistance. This makes the new tantalum alloy plates suitable for use in high-temperature components such as aircraft engine combustion chambers, where they can withstand the impact of high-temperature combustion gases and ensure stable engine operation.

The addition of hafnium significantly improves the tantalum alloy's oxidation resistance. At high temperatures, metals readily react with oxygen, forming an oxide layer that not only degrades material performance but can also lead to corrosion and failure of components. The hafnium in the new tantalum alloy plates forms a dense oxide film on the material's surface, preventing further oxygen penetration and thus improving its oxidation resistance. In experiments simulating the high-temperature environment of aircraft engines, the hafnium-added tantalum alloy plates showed significantly lower surface oxidation levels after prolonged high-temperature exposure than those without the hafnium addition, effectively extending the component's service life.

In addition to improving basic performance, the new tantalum alloy plates also achieve breakthroughs in manufacturing processes. Optimization of precision forging and heat treatment processes has made the manufacture of complex-shaped tantalum alloy components a reality. Aircraft engine components often have complex geometries, and traditional manufacturing processes struggle to meet the high-precision requirements. Advanced forging and heat treatment techniques allow the microstructure of tantalum alloy plates to be precisely controlled, enabling them to meet complex shape processing requirements while maintaining uniform material performance. This provides greater freedom in aircraft engine design, enabling more efficient and compact engine structures. With its superior performance and advanced manufacturing processes, the new tantalum alloy plates have revolutionized high-temperature aviation components and will play an irreplaceable and important role in future aviation development, helping propel aviation technology to new heights.