Titanium Alloys: Processing and Properties

Titanium alloys have great potential for use as biomaterials due to good biocompatibility and mechanical properties. The nickel addition to titanium improves the wear, corrosion and mechanical resistance of this element. The objective of this paper was to investigate the effects of oxygen on the structure, microstructure and some selected mechanical properties of this alloy system. The results showed that the samples present the adequate nickel concentration and low concentration of other metals. The alloys exhibit predominantly the α and intermetallic Ti₂Ni phases, and the amount of it increases according to the nickel concentration. In the Ti-15Ni and Ti-20Ni alloys, this intermetallic reacted with oxygen forming Ti₄Ni₂O trioxide. The microstructures varied according to the processing, as well as the microhardness values. Elastic modulus values are slightly above titanium due to the formation of a new intermetallic phase but have not varied significantly with processing and doping with oxygen. Full article

The α and prior β textures and microtextures of a lamellar Ti6242 forged disk were characterized by advanced electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) and related to crystallographic features of faceted crack initiation sites of dwell fatigue specimens tested along the radial direction (RD). Large feather-like structures of α colonies with close orientations were observed at boundaries of elongated prior β grains. Their orientation belongs to the <11-20>α//z fiber, aligning the c-axis in RDs (z: axial direction of the disk). They are inherited from prior β grains belonging to the major <100>β and minor <111>β//z fibers. These feather-like structures are strong regions of the forging that act as a preferential crack initiation site. Adjacent to them, one can observe large colony with evidence of prismatic slip. Thus, the facet formation seems triggered by stress redistribution from “weak” to “strong” regions due to the elastic and plastic anisotropy. Finally, the occurrence of neighboring β grains able to share close oriented feather-like colonies is discussed considering the reconstructed β microtexture and texture. This study may be helpful for further texture control during the forging process. Full article

In this research, the microstructures and mechanical properties of similar and dissimilar autogenous joints of 3 mm thick commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) and Ti-6Al-4V welded by ytterbium fiber laser (Yb:YAG) were investigated. Two sets of laser power and welding speed were selected in such a way that the heat input remained constant. Microstructural characterization of the joints was investigated by an optical microscope, and mechanical properties were determined by hardness and tensile tests. The only defects found were porosity and underfill, and no signs of lack of penetration and solidification cracks were observed in any of the joints. Microstructural evaluation of the fusion zone (FZ) showed that in similar Ti-6Al-4V joint, a supersaturated nonequilibrium α′ martensite was formed due to rapid cooling associated with laser welding. In similar CP-Ti, coarse equiaxed grains were observed in the FZ. Unlike the similar joints, a clear interface was observed between the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and the FZ in both the CP-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V sides in dissimilar joints. Among all the joints with different weld parameters, similar Ti-6Al-4V showed the highest strength and the lowest ductility. In similar CP-Ti and dissimilar joints, fractures took place in the CP-Ti base metal, but all the Ti-6Al-4V similar joints failed in the FZ. Significant changes in the strength and hardness with varying laser power and welding speed implied that the mechanical properties of the weld fusion zones were not entirely governed by the heat input but were also affected by individual welding parameters. Full article

The Ti₅₀Ni₄₉W₁ alloy has a B2 ↔ 19’ martensitic transformation but slightly lower shape recovery than the Ti₅₀Ni₅₀ alloy. The B19’ martensite structure in the Ti₅₀Ni₄₉W₁ has the lattice parameters a = 0.301 nm; b = 0.423 nm; c = 0.472 nm; and β = 97.5°. The hardness increment and transformation temperature depression of Ti₅₀Ni₄₉W₁ are greater than those of Ti₅₀Ni₅₀ under the same degree of cold rolling and the same number of thermal cycles; owing to the Ti₅₀Ni₄₉W₁; with higher inherent hardness from solidification strengthening of W atoms. Both thermal cycling and cold rolling on Ti₅₀Ni₄₉W₁ also promotes R-phase transformation. The effects of thermal cycling and cold rolling on the martensitic transformation temperature (M_s) of the Ti₅₀Ni₄₉W₁ alloy follow a linear trend; and the M_s decreased with the hardness. Full article

The novel titanium alloy TIMETAL^® 407 (Ti-407) has been developed as an alternative to Ti-6Al-4V (Ti-6-4), for applications that demand relatively high ductility and energy absorption. Demonstrating a combination of lower strength and greater ductility, the alloy introduces a variety of cost reduction opportunities, including improved machinability. Thermo-mechanical processing and its effects on microstructure and subsequent mechanical performance are characterised, including a detailed assessment of the fatigue and crack propagation properties. Demonstrating relatively strong behaviour under high-cycle fatigue loading, Ti-407 is nevertheless susceptible to time-dependent fatigue effects. Its sensitivity to dwell loading is quantified, and the associated deformation and fracture mechanisms responsible for controlling fatigue life are explored. The intimate relationship between thermo-mechanical processing, micro-texture and fatigue crack initiation through the generation of quasi-cleavage facets is highlighted. Consistent fatigue crack growth kinetics are demonstrated, independent of local microstructure. Full article

The high-temperature flow behavior of TB8 titanium alloys with two different grain sizes was investigated in this present work. Results show that a significant characteristic of stress drop is visible at the start stage of the hot deformation process when the strain rates are 10⁰ and 10⁻¹ s⁻¹. With the further increasing of strain, the flow stress initially rises to a maximum value and subsequently attains a plateau for the strain rates of 10⁰ s⁻¹ and a slight decrease for the strain rates of 10⁻¹ s⁻¹. Only dynamic recovery occurs under these deformation conditions. When the strain rates drop to 10⁻³ s⁻¹, the dynamic recrystallization takes place during hot deformation. The values of deformation activation energy and materials constants at different strains were calculated. The processing maps at different strains were established for the fine- and coarse-grained alloys. The optimal processing parameter for hot processing was attained to be 900 °C/10⁻³ s⁻¹ for fine-grained alloys and 950 °C/10⁻³ s⁻¹ for coarse-grained alloys, respectively. Full article

In the present study, the methods of optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy as well as X-ray diffraction analysis gained insights into the mechanisms of surface finish and microstructure formation of Ti–6Al–4V parts during an EBF³-process. It was found that the slip band propagation within the outermost surface layer provided dissipation of the stored strain energy associated with martensitic transformations. The latter caused the lath fragmentation as well as precipitation of nanosized β grains and an orthorhombic martensite α″ phase at the secondary α lath boundaries of as-built Ti–6Al–4V parts. The effect of continuous electron beam post-treatment on the surface finish, microstructure, and mechanical properties of EBF³-fabricated Ti–6Al–4V parts was revealed. The brittle outermost surface layer of the EBF³-fabricated samples was melted upon the treatment, resulting in the formation of equiaxial prior β grains of 20 to 30 μm in size with the fragmented acicular α′ phase. Electron-beam irradiation induced transformations within the 70 μm thick molten surface layer and 500 μm thick heat affected zone significantly increased the Vickers microhardness and tensile strength of the EBF³-fabricated Ti–6Al–4V samples. Full article

Material reductions, weight savings, design optimisation, and a reduction in the environmental impact can be achieved by improving the performance of near-net shape (NNS) titanium alloy components. The method demonstrated in this paper is to use a solid-state approach, which includes diffusion bonding discrete layers of dissimilar titanium alloy powders (CP-Ti, Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr) using field-assisted sintering technology (FAST), followed by subsequent forging steps. This article demonstrates the hybrid process route, firstly through small-scale uni-axial compression tests and secondly through closed-die forging of dissimilar titanium alloy FAST preforms into an NNS (near-net shape) component. In order to characterise and simulate the underlying forging behaviour of dissimilar alloy combinations, uni-axial compression tests of FAST cylindrical samples provided flow stress behaviour and the effect of differing alloy volume fractions on the resistance to deformation and hot working behaviour. Despite the mismatch in the magnitude of flow stress between alloys, excellent structural bond integrity is maintained throughout. This is also reflected in the comparatively uncontrolled closed-die forging of the NNS demonstrator components. Microstructural analysis across the dissimilar diffusion bond line was undertaken in the components and finite element modelling software reliably predicts the strain distribution and bond line flow behaviour during the multi-step forging process. Full article

In this study, the effect of initial annealing microstructure of Ti–4Al–2V (TA17) alloy on forming characteristic was studied, so as to provide a basis for quality control of plastic forming of titanium alloy parts. The titanium alloy always undergoes annealing treatment before forming, due to different microstructures present different mechanical properties. The TA17 with different microstructures are obtained by means of various annealing treatment temperatures. The tensile behavior of TA17 is investigated at room temperature and 900 °C under constant strain rate of 0.01 s⁻¹. The experimental results show that the mechanical properties of TA17 are sensitive to the initial microstructure before deformation. The microstructure of TA17 at 850 °C (2 h) is the equiaxed primary α-phase after the annealing process. It exhibits good plasticity at room temperature. This phenomenon is also confirmed from fracture morphology from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. At 900 °C, which is a high tensile temperature, the alloy with equiaxed primary α-phase performs outstanding plasticity compared with other microstructures. This work establishes a good understanding on the relationship between the mechanical properties and microstructures of TA17 at a wide temperature range. Full article

This study deals with the influence of microstructure on the fatigue crack growth resistance of αβ titanium alloys: Ti-6Al-4V ELI (Extra Low Interstitial) that may compete with the conventional Ti-6Al-4V alloy in the manufacture of high performance aircraft. Six different microstructures have been considered: the as-received bimodal microstructures and five distinct fully lamellar microstructures. The characteristic parameters of these microstructures were determined and crack growth tests were performed with crack closure measurements in order to evaluate the shielding effect induced by closure. A comparison of crack growth rates, fracture surfaces, and crack path was carried out for the different microstructures. The results outline a transition between two propagation regimes from a microstructure-sensitive to microstructure-insensitive propagation. Full article

The hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of a 7.5 vol.% TiB_w/near α-Ti composite with fine matrix microstructure were investigated under the deformation conditions in a temperature range of 800–950 °C and strain rate range of 0.001–1 s⁻¹ using plane strain compression tests. The flow stress curves show different characteristics according to the various deformation conditions. At a higher strain rate (1 s⁻¹), the flow stress of the composite continuously increases until a peak value is reached. The activation energy is 410.40 kJ/mol, much lower than the activation energy of as-sintered or as-forged composites. The decreased activation energy is ascribed to the breaking of the TiB_w reinforcement during the multi-directional forging and the resultant fine matrix microstructure. Refined reinforcement and refined matrix microstructure significantly improve the hot deformation ability of the composite. The deformation conditions determine the morphology and fraction of α and β phases. At 800–900 °C and 0.01 s⁻¹ the matrix α grains are much refined due to the continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX). The processing map is constructed based on the hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution. The optimal hot processing window is determined to be 800–950 °C/0.001–0.01 s⁻¹, which lead to CDRX of primary α grains or dynamic recovery (DRV) and dynamic recrystallization (DRX) of β phase. Full article

Ti-6242 is a near alpha titanium alloy, which has excellent high-temperature creep resistance and is widely used in jet engine compressors. This alloy is susceptible to creep fatigue failure under dwell loading below 473 K. The existence of microtextured regions (MTRs) contributes significantly to this fast crack propagation. Mechanical processing in the alpha + beta region has been employed to eliminate MTRs, but the efficiency depends significantly on the applied strain path. Previous investigations based on crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) simulations have demonstrated the relationship between breakdown efficiency and loading direction. Therein, MTRs with regular geometry and pure initial orientation were used to isolate the effect of loading direction from initial microstructure. In this paper, the behavior of MTRs with realistic initial microstructure was investigated using a hierarchical multiscale modeling framework, and the microscale results were analyzed in detail to understand the behavior of MTRs under different loading conditions. It was shown that a hierarchical multiscale model with realistic initial microstructure at the microscale can reflect the influences from different strain paths, initial orientation distributions, and positions of the region simultaneously. The combined effect of initial orientation distribution and loading direction on the MTR breakdown efficiency is discussed in detail. Full article

In this paper, the effects of temperature and dwell time on the Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) behavior of commercial pure titanium were studied under high and low load ratios. Besides, combined with the fracture surface morphology, the specific characteristics of FCG were analyzed under pure fatigue and dwell fatigue conditions. The experiment results show that the FCG rate of commercial pure titanium (CP-Ti) increases with the temperature under low load ratio, and the dwell time increases the FCG rate. Also, the enhancement of the dwell time increases as the temperature rises. The dwell effect tends to be saturated when the temperature rises to 200 °C. Under high load ratio, the FCG rate of CP-Ti also exhibits a temperature-sensitive enhancement. The enhancement effect of the dwell time on the FCG rate under high load ratio is more significant. However, the effect of the hold time on the FCG rate does not increase at 300 °C. The da/dN–ΔK/E FCG curves for CP-Ti have a tendency to approach each other under different load ratios, which indicates that the E-modulus is an important factor for the difference. The effect of dwell time on the FCG behavior of CP-Ti is dominated by the creep deformation mechanism under different load ratios from room temperature to 300 °C. At the same time, the oxidation effect gradually becomes significant as the load ratio increases to 300 °C. The fracture surface morphology shows that the secondary cracks and the roughness increase with temperature or dwell time under low load ratio condition, while, under high load ratio, the effect of creep deformation on the FCG behavior is more obviously enhanced, and plastic deformation is gradually significant with increase of the dimples. Full article

We investigated the TiFe precipitation behavior of solution heat-treated Ti-5Al-3.5Fe during isothermal aging, quantified the effect of precipitation on strengthening by evaluating the hardness, and compared it to the effect of Ti₃Al precipitation in Ti-6Al-4V. TiFe precipitates formed both at grain boundaries (GBs) and within the grain matrices. Phase transformation from the β to α phase also occurred during isothermal aging; this transformation generated lamellar interphase boundaries between the transformed α phase and remaining β phase in prior β grains. These interphase boundaries enabled the formation of in-grain TiFe precipitates by acting as a nucleation site. GB precipitation did not require prior β → α phase transformation to generate nucleation sites (i.e., interphase boundaries), so TiFe precipitation could occur immediately upon isothermal aging. Thus, GB precipitation proceeded more quickly than in-grain precipitation; as a result, precipitates were larger and more spherical at the GBs than in grains. The strengthening behavior exhibited by TiFe precipitation differed obviously from that caused by Ti₃Al precipitation in Ti-6Al-4V because of its differing precipitation kinetics and related microstructural evolution. Full article

The metal titanium (Ti) and its alloys have many attributes which are attractive as structural materials, but they also have one major disadvantage, high initial cost. Nevertheless, Ti and Ti alloys are used extensively in airframes, gas turbine engines (GTE), and rocket engines (RE). The high cost is a deterrent, particularly in airframe applications, in that the other alloys it competes with are, for the most part, significantly lower cost. This is less of a concern for GTE and RE where the cost of titanium is closer to and sometimes even lower than some of the materials it competes with for these applications. In spacecraft the weight savings are so important that cost is a lesser concern. Ti and its alloys consist of five families of alloys; α-Ti, near α-alloys, α + β alloys, β-alloys, and Ti-based intermetallic compounds. The intermetallic compounds of primary interest today are those based on the compound TiAl which, at this time, are only used for engine applications because of their higher temperature capability. These TiAl-based compounds are used in a relatively low, but growing, amounts. The first production application was for low pressure turbine blades in the GE engine (GEnx) used on the Boeing 787, followed by the GE LEAP engine used on A-320neo and B-737MAX. These air foils are investment cast and machined. The next application is for the GE90X which will power the Boeing B-777X. These air foils will be made by additive manufacturing (AM). Unalloyed titanium and titanium alloys are typically melted by vacuum arc melting and re-melted either once (2X VAR) or twice (3X VAR); however a new and very different melting method (cold hearth melting) has recently become favored, mainly for high performance applications such as rotors in aircraft engines. This process resulted in higher quality ingots with a significant reduction in melt-related defects. Once melted and cast into ingots, the alloys can be processed using all the standard thermomechanical working and casting processes used for making components of other types of structural alloys. Because of their limited ductility, the TiAl-based intermetallic compounds are quite difficult to process using ordinary wrought methods. Consequently, the low-pressure turbine blades currently in service are investment cast and machined to net shape. The AM air foils will require minimal machining, which is an advantage. This paper describes some relatively recent developments as well as some issues and opportunities associated with the production and use of Ti and its alloys in aerospace components. Included are new Ti alloys, new applications of Ti alloys, and the current status of several manufacturing processes including a discussion of the promise and current reality of additive manufacturing as a potentially revolutionary method of producing Ti alloy components. Full article