Tensile Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Discs Produced by Open Die Powder Compact Forging of Pre-alloyed HDH Powders

Open die powder compact forging was employed for consolidation of Ti-6Al-4V(wt.%) powders which were produced by a hydride-dehydride (HDH) process. The powders were initially warm-compacted into cylindrical shapes. Induction heating was used for preheating the compacts prior to forging into plates. The effect of the forging parameters such as temperature and pre-sintering time on the microstructure and tensile properties of the forged plates were studied. Porosity and the alpha-beta phase distribution were investigated to enable a better understanding of their effect on the fracture behaviour of the tensile tested specimens. The fracture surfaces of the broken tensile specimens were analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to find the correlation between microstructure, residual porosity and fracture behaviour. A combination of high ultimate tensile strength of over 1200MPa and a good ductility reflected by an elongation to fracture of around 10% was achieved in some of the forged discs.