EXPERIMENTAL AND MODELING STUDIES ON THE STRESS RELAXATION BEHAVIOUR OF TI-6AL-4V ALLOY

The transient mechanical behavior of materials during stress relaxation has evoked interest in manufacturing applications because of the effect of stress relaxation on formability enhancement. However, most of the previous studies have focused on advanced high strength steels and aluminum alloys. Limited transient stress relaxation studies have been conducted on titanium alloys in order to understand the influence of stress relaxation on forming behavior. Titanium alloys are widely used in aerospace components because of their high strength to weight ratios and excellent fatigue strengths. However, room temperature formability of Ti alloys is an important concern, which restricts their widespread use in various applications. To address these challenges, the present study is aimed to understand the role of transient stress relaxation on formability of Ti alloys. Toward this end, stress relaxation of a dual phase titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) has been investigated experimentally. Stress relaxation tests were performed by interrupting uniaxial tensile tests in the uniform deformation regime for a pre-defined strain and hold time after which tests were continued monotonically until fracture. Single step, room temperature stress relaxation experiments were performed systematically to study the effect of hold time, pre-strain, and strain rate on mechanical properties. The stress relaxation phenomenon was found to contribute positively to the ductility improvement. The mechanisms responsible for enhancing the formability are discussed. The experimentally obtained stress vs. time data were analyzed using a advanced constitutive model for stress relaxation available in literature.