MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF Ti-6Al-4V RODS PRODUCED BY POWDER COMPACT EXTRUSION

This paper describes the mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy produced by consolidation of a blended powder mixture of elemental hydride-dehydride (HDH) titanium powder and master alloy (60Al-40V) powder. The warm pressed compacts of blended powders were sintered using a vacuum sintering furnace prior to the extrusion process. Impact toughness and micro-hardness were measured using as extruded Ti-6Al-4V alloy rod with an extrusion ratio 9:1. In addition, tensile testing was performed on extruded rod with an extrusion ratio 25:1. Detailed work was performed using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to explore the microstructure and fracture surfaces of the tested material. The tensile properties of as extruded Ti-6Al-4V rod were found to be comparable with corresponding literature values of wrought material. However, impact toughness was found to be lower than published data. Some possible reasons contributing to the measured mechanical properties of the Ti-6Al-4V rods in this study are discussed.