Influence of thermo hydrogen treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-5Al-2.5Sn ELI alloy

Thermo hydrogen treatment (THT) of titanium is a process in which hydrogen is used as a temporary alloying element in titanium alloys. It is an attractive approach for controlling the microstructure and thereby improving the final mechanical properties. In the present study, the microstructure of the original (non-hydrogenated) sample has only α phase and the grains is coarse with an average size of ~ 650 μm. While the grain size of thermo hydrogen treated Ti-5Al-2.5Sn ELI alloy became finer and the mechanical properties were improved significantly. When the hydrogen content of the hydrogenated Ti-5Al-2.5Sn ELI alloy is 0.321wt.%, β phase and δ titanium hydride appear. Also the average grain size decreases to 450 μm. When the hydrogen content is 0.515wt.%, the grain size decreases to 220 μm. The mechanical properties were tested after dehydrogenation, and the mechanical properties improved significantly compared to the unhydrogenated specimens. The tensile strength of the Ti-5Al-2.5Sn ELI alloy improved by 17.7% when the hydrogen content increased to 0.920wt.%, at the same time the percentage reduction of area (Z) increased by 33% and the impact toughness increased by 37%.