Deformation behavior and microstructure evolution in multistage hot working of TA15 titanium alloy: on the role of recrystallization

Interrupted compression tests of TA15 titanium alloy with initially equiaxed microstructure were carried out at deformation temperatures between 1173 to 1273 K and strain rates between 0.001 to 0.1 s⁻¹ to investigate the deformation behavior and microstructure evolution under multistage deformation. The TA15 alloy exhibits significant flow softening in both β and (α + β) working. It is found that the flow softening relates to dynamic recrystallization of β phases under current experimental conditions. In multistage β working, metadynamic recrystallization is the main softening mechanism during inter-pass holding. The grain refinement by metadynamic recrystallization leads to the decrease in peak stress upon reloading. In multistage (α + β) working, static recrystallization is the main softening mechanism during inter-pass holding. The static recrystallization kinetics increases with temperature and strain rate. The inter-pass holding has little influence on the morphology of the primary α phases. The β grain size is determined by spacing of primary α phases, which is more affected by working temperature but less dependent on strain rate and inter-pass holding time.