Technical Notes - Observations on the Lattice Parameters of the Alpha Solid Solution in the Titanium-Aluminum System

PART of a program of research on the Ti-A1 system1 involved a study of the lattice parameters of the titanium-rich a solid solution, which has a hexagonal close-packed structure. For this work, a 14 cm Debye-Scherrer powder camera and filtered CuK, radiation was used. For each pattern, the parameters were calculated by a least squares solution of the five strongest high angle lines. This provides an accuracy of i0.005A or better. The results are shown graphically in Fig. 1. It will be seen that an unusual change of slope occurs in the curve for the C parameter at high aluminum contents. Such anomalous changes in slope have been recorded by RaynorV or several magnesium-rich solid solutions. The effects were interpreted in terms of a special contribution to the lattice distortion due to factors of electronic origin predicted by Jones." Jones' theory, in substance, suggested that an unusually large expansion of the lattice would begin when the electron per atom concentration in the alloy was increased to a value at which an overlap just began from one Brillouin zone to another. Con-