Microstructure, texture and hardness of a metastable β-titanium alloy after bar-rolling and annealing

Abstract

The microstructure and texture evolution of a metastable Ti–5Al–3V–3Mo–2Cr–2Zr–1Nb–1Fe alloy during bar-rolling and after various thermal treatments was investigated by high-energy synchrotron diffraction and electron backscatter diffraction. Bar-rolling is applied in the (α+β)-phase field in order to achieve a bi-modal (duplex) microstructure. The effect of dynamic recrystallized and recovered zones on texture of Ti5321was analyzed separately, as well as the texture of primary α-precipitates and secondary α-lamellae. The texture of the recovered zones is characterized by a cube component ({001}<100>) plus α- and γ-fibre with dominant {100}<110>, {112}<110>, {111}<110> components, while the texture of the recrystallized zones is a strong cube texture. After aging or recrystallization plus aging, this texture component remains, while it disappears after solution treatment. The primary α-precipitates have their c-axes perpendicular to the rolling direction and do not follow the Burgers orientation relationship. This texture characteristics remains after various thermal heat treatments. Secondary α-lamellae obey the Burgers orientation relationship. Moreover, a variant selection of secondary α-lamellae occurs. The mechanism of texture formation of the β-phase and the precipitation behavior of the α-phase is discussed. The hardness increase can be attributed to size, shape and volume fraction of the α-precipitates. Different combinations of primary α- and secondary α-precipitates make an increase in hardness of about 11%.