PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF THE B2 COMPOUND NIAL

Considerable work has been performed on NiAl over the past three decad es, with rapid growth in research on this intermetallic occurring in t he past few years because of recent interest in this material for elec tronic and high temperature structural applications. However, many phy sical properties and the controlling fracture and deformation mechanis ms over certain temperature regimes are still debated. This is due in part to the incomplete characteristisation of many of the alloys previ ously investigated. Fragmentary data on processing conditions, chemist ry, microstructure, and the apparent difficulty in accurately measurin g composition have made direct comparison between individual studies s ometimes tenuous. The purpose of this review is to summarise all avail able mechanical and pertinent physical properties of NiAl, stressing t he most recent investigations, in an attempt to understand the behavio ur of NiAl and its alloys over a broad temperature range.