Impact strength of VT6 titanium alloy with the ultra-fine grain structure produced by the equal-channel angular pressing method

Abstract

The wide use of two-phase titanium alloys in aircraft engine building, as well as the intense development of this industry, stipulate more and more stringent requirements to structural materials and the enhancement of their reliability, strength and performance characteristics. The formation of an ultrafine-grained (UFG) state in metals and alloys using severe plastic deformation (SPD) processing enables achieving high strength properties. However, an important aspect of UFG materials is their structural and textural effects which may lead to a strong anisotropy of their properties. In this respect, the authors studied the effect of microstructural features on the mechanical properties and impact toughness of the VT6 alloy after equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) and subsequent deformation by upsetting, imitating die forging. The study showed that the formation of a UFG structure in the VT6 titanium alloy with a grain size of about 0.4 µm allows increasing the ultimate tensile strength up to 1250 MPa. The additional upsetting of the UFG alloy at T=750 °C leads to grain growth up to 0.5–1 µm and a decline in strength to 1090 MPa as a result of the recovery and recrystallization processes. Impact toughness tests were conducted on specimens with a V-shaped stress raiser at room temperature, showing that the impact toughness of the UFG VT6 alloy was 0.41 MJ/m2. The tests revealed the anisotropy of impact toughness in the UFG VT6 alloy after equal-channel angular pressing and additional upsetting due to the metallographic and crystallographic texture formed as the result of deformation treatment. In test direction No. 1, the impact toughness value is the lowest and equals 0.31 MJ/m2.