Microwave Heating, Isothermal Sintering, and Mechanical Properties of Powder Metallurgy Titanium and Titanium Alloys

This article presents a detailed assessment of microwave (MW) heating, isothermal sintering, and the resulting tensile properties of commercially pure Ti (CP-Ti), Ti-6Al-4V, and Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al (wt pct), by comparison with those fabricated by conventional vacuum sintering. The potential of MW sintering for titanium fabrication is evaluated accordingly. Pure MW radiation is capable of heating titanium powder to ≥1573 K (1300 °C), but the heating response is erratic and difficult to reproduce. In contrast, the use of SiC MW susceptors ensures rapid, consistent, and controllable MW heating of titanium powder. MW sintering can consolidate CP-Ti and Ti alloys compacted from ?100 mesh hydride-dehydride (HDH) Ti powder to ~95.0 pct theoretical density (TD) at 1573 K (1300 °C), but no accelerated isothermal sintering has been observed over conventional practice. Significant interstitial contamination occurred from the Al₂O₃-SiC insulation–susceptor package, despite the high vacuum used (≤4.0 × 10^?3 Pa). This leads to erratic mechanical properties including poor tensile ductility. The use of Ti sponge as impurity (O, N, C, and Si) absorbers can effectively eliminate this problem and ensure good-to-excellent tensile properties for MW-sintered CP-Ti, Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al, and Ti-6Al-4V. The mechanisms behind various observations are discussed. The prime benefit of MW sintering of Ti powder is rapid heating. MW sintering of Ti powder is suitable for the fabrication of small titanium parts or titanium preforms for subsequent thermomechanical processing.     

Diffusion Bonding of Ti-6Al-4V Sheet with Ti-6Al-4V Foam for Biomedical Implant Applications

Advanced metallic bone implants are designed to have a porous surface to improve osseointegration and reduce risks of loosening. An alternative approach to existing surface treatments to create a porous surface is to bond separately produced metallic foams onto the implant. To assess the feasibility of this approach, a Ti-6Al-4V foam was diffusion bonded onto bulk Ti-6Al-4V in an argon atmosphere at temperatures between 1173 K and 1223 K (900 °C and 950 °C) for times between 45 and 75 minutes. These specimens were tested in tension to determine bond quality: failures occurred in the foam, indicating a strong diffusion-bonded interface. The quality of the bond was confirmed by metallographic studies, indicating that this approach, which can also be applied to creating of sandwich with porous cores, is successful.     

Effect of preoxidation and grain size on ductility of a boron-doped Ni3Al at elevated temperatures

The ductility of a preoxidized Ni₃Al (Ni-23Al-0.5Hf-0.2B. at.%) alloy with various grain sizes (17–193 μm) was evaluated by means of tensile tests at 600 and 760°C in vacuum. The preoxidation does not affect the ductility of the finest-grained material at either temperature, whereas it causes severe embrittiement in the largest-grained material, especially at 760°C. Auger studies revealed very little oxygen penetration along grain boundaries in the finest-grained material but substantial oxygen penetration in the largest-grained one. A continuous, thin Al-rich oxide layer which forms on the fine-grained samples protects the underlying alloy from oxygen penetration, preventing any loss of ductility, whereas the nickel-rich oxide which forms on the large-grained samples allows oxygen to penetrate along grain boundaries, causing severe embrittiement. The grain boundaries act as short-circuit paths for rapid diffusion of aluminum atoms from the bulk to the surfaces, and this is responsible for the change in oxidation product from Ni-rich to Al-rich oxide with decreasing grain size.     

Evaluating the Superplastic Flow of a Magnesium AZ31 Alloy Processed by Equal-Channel Angular Pressing

Experiments show that the magnesium AZ31 (Mg-3 pct Al-1 pct Zn) alloy exhibits excellent superplastic properties at 623 K (350 °C) after processing by equal-channel angular pressing using a die with a channel angle of 135 deg and a range of decreasing processing temperatures from 473 K to 413 K (200 °C to 140 °C). A maximum elongation to failure of ~1200 pct was achieved in this alloy at a tensile strain rate of 1.0 × 10^?4 s^?1. Microstructural inspection showed evidence for cavity formation and grain growth during tensile testing with the grain growth leading to significant strain hardening. An examination of the experimental data shows that grain boundary sliding is dominant during superplastic flow. Furthermore, a comprehensive review of the present results and extensive published data for the AZ31 alloy shows the exponent of the inverse grain size is given by p ≈ 2 which is consistent with grain boundary sliding as the rate-controlling flow mechanism.     

Effect of Bonding Temperature on Interfacial Reaction and Mechanical Properties of Diffusion-Bonded Joint Between Ti-6Al-4V and 304 Stainless Steel Using Nickel as an Intermediate Material

An investigation was carried out on the solid-state diffusion bonding between Ti-6Al-4V (TiA) and 304 stainless steel (SS) using pure nickel (Ni) of 200-μm thickness as an intermediate material prepared in vacuum in the temperature range from 973 K to 1073 K (700 °C to 800 °C) in steps of 298 K (25 °C) using uniaxial compressive pressure of 3 MPa and 60 minutes as bonding time. Scanning electron microscopy images, in backscattered electron mode, had revealed existence of layerwise Ti-Ni-based intermetallics such as either Ni₃Ti or both Ni₃Ti and NiTi at titanium alloy-nickel (TiA/Ni) interface, whereas nickel-stainless steel (Ni/SS) diffusion zone was free from intermetallic phases for all joints processed. Chemical composition of the reaction layers was determined in atomic percentage by energy dispersive spectroscopy and confirmed by X-ray diffraction study. Room-temperature properties of the bonded joints were characterized using microhardness evaluation and tensile testing. The maximum hardness value of ~800 HV was observed at TiA/Ni interface for the bond processed at 1073 K (800 °C). The hardness value at Ni/SS interface for all the bonds was found to be ~330 HV. Maximum tensile strength of ~206 MPa along with ~2.9 pct ductility was obtained for the joint processed at 1023 K (750 °C). It was observed from the activation study that the diffusion rate at TiA/Ni interface is lesser than that at the Ni/SS interface. From microhardness profile, fractured surfaces and fracture path, it was demonstrated that failure of the joints was initiated and propagated apparently at the TiA/Ni interface near Ni₃Ti intermetallic phase.     

Fabrication of Ti-6Al-4V Scaffolds by Direct Metal Deposition

Direct metal deposition (DMD) is a rapid laser-aided deposition method that can be used to manufacture near-net-shape components from their computer aided design (CAD) files. The method can be used to produce fully dense or porous metallic parts. The Ti-6Al-4V alloy is widely used as an implantable material mainly in the application of orthopedic prostheses because of its high strength, low elastic modulus, excellent corrosion resistance, and good biocompatibility. In the present study, Ti-6Al-4V scaffold has been fabricated by DMD technology for patient specific bone tissue engineering. Good geometry control and surface finish have been achieved. The structure and properties of the scaffolds were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and tension test. The microstructures of laser-deposited Ti-6Al-4V scaffolds are fine Widmanstätten in nature. The tensile and yield strengths of the as-deposited Ti-6Al-4V were 1163 ± 22 and 1105 ± 19 MPa, respectively, which are quite higher than the ASTM limits (896 and 827 MPa) for Ti-6Al-4V implants. However, the ductility of the as-deposited sample was very low (～4 pct), which is well below the ASTM limit (10 pct). After an additional heat treatment (sample annealed at 950 °C followed by furnace cooling), both strength (UTS ～ 1045 ± 16, and YS ～ 959 ± 12 MPa) and ductility (～10.5 ± 1 pct) become higher than ASTM limits for medical implants.     

Linear friction welding of Ti-6Al-4V: Processing,microstructure, and mechanical-property inter-relationships

The linear friction welding behavior of Ti-6Al-4V was investigated using varying processing conditions of frequency (15 to 70 Hz), amplitude (1 to 3 mm), pressure (50 to 90 MPa), and axial shortening (1 to 2 mm). Examination of linear friction welded Ti-6Al-4V using microscopic techniques indicated that the process requires certain critical conditions at the interface and its adjacent region to be reached for producing joints without structural defects along the weld centerline, such as voids or oxide inclusions. Characterization of the weldments included analysis of the microstructural features of the weld and thermomechanically affected zones (TMAZs) in relation to the parent material. It was observed that in the weld region, exposure to supertransus temperatures (>995 °C) combined with hot-deformation working and rapid cooling after joining produced recrystallization of the beta grain structure that had a Widmanstätten alpha-beta transformation microstructure. In the TMAZ, the bimodal microstructure of the parent material was deformed and the presence of elongated alpha grains with broken beta-phase particles was established. Through examination of the mechanical properties, using microhardness and tensile testing, the integrity of the joints was determined in order to assess the impact of the various processing parameters and to define the optimum welding conditions.     

Microstructure and high-temperature tensile deformation of tiai(si) alloys made from elemental powders

Two ternary TiAl-based alloys with chemical compositions of Ti-46.4 at. pct Al-1.4 at. pct Si (Si poor) and Ti-45 at. pct Al-2.7 at. pct Si (Si rich), which were prepared by reaction powder processing, have been investigated. Both alloys consist of the intermetallic compounds y-TiAl, α₂-Ti₃Al, and ξ-Ti₅(Si, Al)₃. The microstructure can be described as a duplex structure(i.e., lamellar γ/α₂ regions distributed in γ matrix) containing ξ precipitates. The higher Si content leads to a larger amount of ξ precipitates and a finer y grain size in the Si-rich alloy. The tensile properties of both alloys depend on test temperature. At room temperature and 700 °C, the tensile properties of the Si-poor alloy are better than those of the Si-rich alloy. At 900 °C, the opposite is true. Examinations of tensile deformed specimens reveal ξ-Ti₅(Si, Al)₃ particle debonding and particle cracking at lower test temperatures. At 900 °C, nucleation of voids and microcracks along lamellar grain boundaries and evidence for recovery and dynamic recrystallization were observed. Due to these processes, the alloys can tolerate ξ-Ti₅(Si, Al)₃ particles at high temperature, where the positive effect of grain refinement on both strength and ductility can be utilized.     

Mechanical Property Enhancement of Ti-6Al-4V by Multilayer Thin Solid Film Ti/TiO2 Nanotubular Array Coating for Biomedical Application

With the intention of improving the mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V, samples were first coated with pure titanium using the physical vapor deposition (PVD) magnetron sputtering technique. The Taguchi optimization method was used to attain a higher coating on substrate adhesion. Second, pure titanium-coated samples with higher adhesion were anodized to generate TiO₂ nanotubes. Next, the TiO₂-coated specimens were heat treated at annealing temperatures of 753.15 K and 923.15 K (480 °C and 650 °C). The XRD results indicate that the varying heat treatment temperatures produced different phases, namely, anatase [753.15 K (480 °C)] and rutile [923.15 K (650 °C)]. Finally, the coated samples’ mechanical properties (surface hardness, adhesion, and fretting fatigue life) were investigated. The fretting fatigue lives of TiO₂-coated specimens at 753.15 K and 923.15 K (480 °C and 650 °C) annealing temperatures were significantly enhanced compared to uncoated samples at low and high cyclic fatigue. The results also indicate that TiO₂-coated samples heat treated at an annealing temperature of 753.15 K (480 °C) (anatase phase) are more suitable for increasing fretting fatigue life at high cyclic fatigue (HCF), while at low cyclic fatigue, the annealing temperature of 923.15 K (650 °C) seemed to be more appropriate. The fretting fatigue life enhancement of thin-film TiO₂ nanotubular array-coated Ti-6Al-4V is due to the ceramic nature of TiO₂ which produces a hard surface as well as a lower coefficient of friction of the TiO₂ nanotube surface that decreases the fretting between contacting components, namely, the sample and friction pad surfaces.     

Analysis of the Deformation Behavior in Tension and Tension-Creep of Ti-3Al-2.5V (wt pct) at 296 K and 728 K (23 °C and 455 °C) Using In Situ SEM Experiments

The deformation behavior of a Ti-3Al-2.5V (wt pct) near-α alloy was investigated during in situ deformation inside a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Two plates with distinct textures were examined. Tensile experiments were performed at 296 K and 728 K (455 °C) (~0.4T _m), while a tensile-creep experiment was performed at 728 K (455 °C) and 180 MPa (σ/σ _ys = 0.72). The active deformation systems were identified in the α phase using electron backscattered diffraction based slip-trace analysis and SEM images of the surface. Prismatic slip deformation was the dominant slip mode observed for all the experiments in both plates, which was supported by a critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) ratio analysis. However, due to the texture of plate 1, which strongly favored the activation of prismatic slip, the percentages of prismatic slip activity for specimens from plate 1 tested at 296 K and 728 K (23 °C and 455 °C) were higher than the specimens from plate 2 under the same testing conditions. T1 twinning was an active deformation mode at both 296 K and 728 K (23 °C and 455 °C), but the extent of twinning activity decreased with increased temperature. T1 twinning was more frequently observed in specimens from plate 2, which exhibited a higher fraction of twinning systems favoring activation at both 296 K and 728 K (23 °C and 455 °C). The tension-creep experiment revealed less slip and more grain boundary sliding than in the higher strain rate tensile experiments. Using a previously demonstrated bootstrapping statistical analysis methodology, the relative CRSS ratios of prismatic, pyramidal 〈a〉, pyramidal 〈c+a〉, and T1 twinning deformation systems compared with basal slip were calculated and discussed in light of similar measurements made on CP Ti and Ti-5Al-2.5Sn (wt pct).     

Fracture characteristics of Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-5Al-2.5Fe with refined microstructure using hydrogen

The hydrogenation behavior of Ti-6Al-4V, with the starting microstructures of coarse equiaxed α and coarse Widmanstätten α, respectively, was investigated under a hydrogen pressure of 0.1 MPa at temperatures between 843 and 1123 K. The hydrogen content was determined as a function of hydrogenation time, hydrogenation temperature, and hydrogen flow rate. The phases presented in the alloy of after hydrogenation were determined with X-ray and electron diffraction analysis in order to define the effect of Thermochemical Processing (TCP) on the microstructure of the alloy. Mechanical properties and fracture toughness of Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-5Al-2.5Fe subjected to the various TCP were then investigated. Hydrogenation of Ti-6Al-4V with the starting microstructure of coarse equiaxed α at 1023 K, just below hydrogen saturated β (denoted β″ (H)) transus temperature, produces a microstructure of a, orthohombic martensite (denoted α″ (H)) and β (H). Hydrogenation at 1123 K, above β (H) transus, results in a microstructure of α″ (H) and β (H). Microstructure refinement during TCP results mainly from decomposition of α″ (H) and ;β (H) into a fine mixture of α + β during dehydrogenation. An alternative TCP method is below β (H) transus hydrogenation (BTH), consisting of hydrogenation of the alloy below the hydrogenated β (H) transus temperature, air cooling to room temperature, and dehydrogenation at a lower temperature, which is found to improve mechanical properties significantly over a conventional TCP treatment. Compared with the untreated material, the BTH treatment increases the yield strength and increases the ultimate tensile strength significantly without decreasing the tensile elongation in the starting microstructure of coarse equiaxed α or with a little decrease in the tensile elongation in the starting microstructure of coarse Widmanstätten α, although the conventional TCP treatment results in a large decrease in elongation over the unprocessed material in Ti-6Al-4V. In Ti-5Al-2.5 Fe, both conventional TCP and BTH result in a increase in yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation; however, the BTH gives the best balance between strength and elongation. The TCP-treated Ti-6Al-4V shows smaller fracture toughness compared with the unprocessed material, while TCP-treated Ti-5Al-2.5Fe shows greater fracture toughness compared with the unprocessed material. The BTH treatment results in a improvement in fatigue strength in both Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-5Al-2.5Fe.     

Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si Alloy

Dry sliding wear tests were performed for Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si alloy against AISI 52100 steel under the loads of 50 to 250 N at 298 K to 873 K (25 °C to 600 °C). The wear behavior of the alloy varied with the change of test conditions. More or less tribo-oxides TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ formed on worn surfaces under various conditions. At lower temperature [298 K to 473 K (25 °C to 200 °C)], less and scattered tribo-oxide layers did not show wear-reduced effect. As more number of and continuous tribo-oxide layers appeared at higher temperatures [773 K to 873 K (500 °C to 600 °C)], the wear rate would be substantially reduced. It can be suggested that Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si alloy possessed excellent wear resistance at 773 K to 873 K (500 °C to 600 °C). The wear-reduced effect of tribo-oxides seemed to depend on the appearance of Fe₂O₃ and the amount of tribo-oxides.     

Effect of Process Variables on Transformation-Texture Development in Ti-6Al-4V Sheet Following Beta Heat Treatment

The effect of preheat time, prestrain, cooling rate, and concurrent deformation during cooling on the preferential selection of hcp alpha variants during the decomposition of the high-temperature, bcc beta phase in two-phase titanium alloys was established using Ti-6Al-4V sheet material. For this purpose, sheet tension samples were pre-soaked in the beta phase field for 0 or 10 minutes (to vary the beta grain size), subjected to a prestrain of 0 or 0.1, and cooled at a rate of 11 or 155 K/min (11 or 155 °C/min) under conditions comprising free ends, fixed ends, or concurrent deformation at a strain rate between ~10^?5 and 3 × 10^?4 s^?1. Electron-backscatter diffraction was used to determine the orientations of the alpha variants so formed, from which the underlying high-temperature, beta-grain microstructure and orientations were reconstructed. These measurements revealed that the parent beta texture changed due to grain growth during preheating. A comparison of the alpha- and beta-phase textures indicated that preferential variant selection was most noticeable under conditions involving a slow cooling rate especially when prestrain or concurrent straining was imposed.     

Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Al-1080 Processed by a Combination of Equal Channel Angular Pressing and High Pressure Torsion

Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and high pressure torsion (HPT) are the most promising severe plastic deformation (SPD) methods. Both methods impose very high strains, leading to extreme work hardening and microstructural refinement. In this paper, billets of Al-1080 were successfully processed by ECAP conducted for up to 10 passes, HPT at an applied pressure of 8 GPa for 5 revolutions, and a combination of ECAP and HPT (ECAP + HPT) at room temperature. The effects of the different SPD processes (ECAP, HPT, and ECAP + HPT) on the evolution of the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-1080 were investigated. The HPT and ECAP + HPT processes were observed to produce finer grain sizes with greater fractions of high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) than the ECAP alone. Although the grain sizes after HPT and ECAP + HPT were similar, the ECAP + HPT sample had more dislocations than the HPT sample. HPT after ECAP enhanced the mechanical properties (hardness, tensile strength, and ductility) of the ECAP-processed Al-1080, showing larger dimple size in the tensile fracture surfaces.     

Effect of Initial Microstructure on High-Temperature Dynamic Deformation of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

One of the attractive properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy is control of microstructure through heat treatment to vary the mechanical properties. In this study, three different microstructures, Lamellar, Widmanstätten, and Martensitic morphologies, were created through heat treatment at a post-β transus temperature followed by cooling at different rates. With faster cooling rates, the microstructures evolved finer lamellae, smaller colony sizes, and thinner grain boundary layers. High-temperature dynamic compression was conducted on these specimens at a strain rate of 1000 s⁻¹ and temperatures in the range of 23 °C to 1045 °C. Flow stresses decreased linearly with colony size and grain boundary layer thickness, but increased with inverse square root of lamellar thickness. This strong correlation of flow stress to several microstructural feature sizes indicated multiple modes of deformation. All three microstructures showed identical thermal softening. The softening rate was intensified at elevated temperatures due to hcp → bcc allotropic phase transformation. Gangireddy modification to Johnson–Cook model could account for this augmented softening and the modified J–C model predicted the three microstructures to follow a similar thermal softening coefficient m = 0.8. The kinetics of phase transformation appear to be very rapid irrespective of the microstructural differences in the Ti-6Al-4V alloy.

     

Microstructure Evolution During Friction Stir Processing and Hot Torsion Simulation of Ti-6Al-4V

Friction stir processing of three variants of Ti-6Al-4V was conducted at processing temperatures both above and below the β-transus. The base metal substrates that were processed included wrought base metal in the α/β-processed and β-processed condition and weld overlay that was deposited using the gas tungsten arc welding process. Friction stir processing below the β-transus for the α/β-processed condition and the weld overlay produced fully equiaxed-α grains with submicron grain size, while in the β-processed condition, elongated equiaxed-α grains and regions of transformed-β with grain size in the 1 to 2 μm range were observed. Friction stir processing above the β-transus was microstructurally evident by a stir zone composed of 10 to 40 μm recrystallized β-grains with either a basket weave or colony structure and a continuous network of α at the grain boundary. Path and normal forces were recorded for in situ processing of Ti-6Al-4V in all three initial conditions. Comparatively, above-transus processing reduced the path force at the tool-to-workpiece interface, while processing below the β-transus caused the path force to increase by ~300 pct. Based on the dimensionless heat input, it appears that the stir zone microstructure is more dependent on spindle speed (RPM) than travel speed and that the heat input parameter is not a good indicator of the processing temperature. Hot torsion testing of α/β-processed Ti-6Al-4V was used as a method for physically simulating the stir zone microstructure produced from friction stir processing. At a strain rate of 2.5 s^?1 (250 RPM rotation rate), the transition from equiaxed-α to a transformed beta microstructure occurred at approximately 1223 K (950 °C). A comparison of FSP and hot torsion microstructures revealed nearly identical matching depending on the selection of hot torsion conditions.     

Fatigue Life of Cast Titanium Alloys Under Simulated Denture Framework Displacements

The objective of the study was to evaluate the hypothesis that the mechanical properties and fatigue behavior of removable partial dentures (RPD) made from cast titanium alloys can be improved by alloying with low-cost, low-melting elements such as Cu, Al, and Fe using commercially pure Ti (CP-Ti) and Ti-6Al-4V as controls. RPD specimens in the form of rest-shaped, clasp, rectangular-shaped specimens and round-bar tensile specimens were cast using an experimental Ti-5Al-5Cu alloy, Ti-5Al-1Fe, and Ti-1Fe in an Al₂O₃-based investment with a centrifugal-casting machine. The mechanical properties of the alloys were determined by performing tensile tests under a controlled displacement rate. The fatigue life of the RPD specimens was tested by the three-point bending in an MTS testing machine under a cyclic displacement of 0.5 mm. Fatigue tests were performed at 10 Hz at ambient temperature until the specimens failed into two pieces. The tensile data were statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA (α = 0.05) and the fatigue life data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (α = 0.05). The experimental Ti-5Al-5Cu alloy showed a significantly higher average fatigue life than that of either CP-Ti or Ti-5Al-1Fe alloy (p < 0.05). SEM fractography showed that the fatigue cracks initiated from surface grains, surface pores, or hard particles in surface grains instead of the internal casting pores. Among the alloys tested, the Ti-5Al-5Cu alloy exhibited favorable results in fabricating dental appliances with an excellent fatigue behavior compared with other commercial alloys.     

Elevated-Temperature Mechanical Behavior of As-Cast and Wrought Ti-6Al-4V-1B

This work studied the effect of processing on the elevated-temperature [728 K (455 °C)] fatigue deformation behavior of Ti-6Al-4V-1B for maximum applied stresses between 300 to 700 MPa (R = 0.1, 5 Hz). The alloy was evaluated in the as-cast form as well as in three wrought forms: cast-and-extruded, powder metallurgy (PM) rolled, and PM extruded. Processing caused significant differences in the microstructure, which in turn impacted the fatigue properties. The PM-extruded material exhibited a fine equiaxed α + β microstructure and the greatest fatigue resistance among all the studied materials. The β-phase field extrusion followed by cooling resulted in a strong α-phase texture in which the basal plane was predominately oriented perpendicular to the extrusion axis. The TiB whiskers were also aligned in the extrusion direction. The α-phase texture in the extrusions resulted in tensile-strength anisotropy. The tensile strength in the transverse orientation was lower than that in the longitudinal orientation, but the strength in the transverse orientation remained greater than that for the as-cast Ti-6Al-4V. The ratcheting behavior during fatigue is also discussed.     

Influence of microstructure on crack-tip micromechanics and fracture behaviors of a two-phase TiAl alloy

The tensile deformation, crack-tip micromechanics, and fracture behaviors of a two-phase (γ + α₂) gamma titanium aluminide alloy, Ti-47Al-2.6Nb-2(Cr+V), heat-treated for the microstructure of either fine duplex (gamma + lamellar) or predominantly lamellar microstructure were studied in the 25 °C to 800 °C range.In situ tensile and fracture toughness tests were performed in vacuum using a high-temperature loading stage in a scanning electron microscope (SEM), while conventional tensile tests were performed in air. The results revealed strong influences of microstructure on the crack-tip deformation, quasi-static crack growth, and the fracture initiation behaviors in the alloy. Intergranular fracture and cleavage were the dominant fracture mechanisms in the duplex microstructure material, whose fracture remained brittle at temperatures up to 600 °C. In contrast, the nearly fully lamellar microstructure resulted in a relatively high crack growth resistance in the 25 °C to 800 °C range, with interface delamination, translamellar fracture, and decohesion of colony boundaries being the main fracture processes. The higher fracture resistance exhibited by the lamellar microstructure can be attributed, at least partly, to toughening by shear ligaments formed as the result of mismatched crack planes in the process zone.     

A Self-Consistent Approach for Modeling the Flow Behavior of the Alpha and Beta Phases in Ti-6Al-4V

The flow behavior of the α and β phases in Ti-6Al-4V was interpreted in the context of a self-consistent modeling formalism. For this purpose, high-temperature compression tests were conducted at various temperatures for a single-phase α alloy (Ti-7Al-1.5V), a variety of near-β alloys, and the two-phase alloy Ti-6Al-4V, each with an equiaxed microstructure. The flow behavior of the α phase in Ti-6Al-4V was deduced from the experimental results of the single-phase α alloy. The flow behavior of the β phase, which was predicted by using the self-consistent approach and the measured flow behaviors of Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-7Al-1.5V, showed good agreement with direct measurements of the various near-β alloys. From these results, it was shown that the strength of the α phase is approximately three times higher than that of the β phase at temperatures between 1088 K and 1223 K (815 °C and 950 °C). It was also concluded that the relative strain rates in the two phases varies significantly with temperature. The usefulness of the approach was confirmed by comparing the predicted and measured flow stresses for other Ti-6Al-4V and near-α alloys.