Effect of Deformation Reduction on Microstructure, Texture, and Mechanical Properties of Forged Ti-6Al-4V

In this work, the effects of nominal reductions during forging experiments on microstructures, tensile and fatigue properties of Ti-6Al-4V have been investigated. The microstructure of the starting material was a combination of equiaxed and lamellar alpha phases. With further deformation and annealing heat treatment, the volume fraction of globular primary alpha increased by about 20% as the nominal reduction increased from 10 to 50%. More notably, the ultimate tensile stress and yield stress were increased by approximately 50 MPa, and the ductility remained constant, with the nominal reduction from 10 up to 50%. Further detailed characterization revealed that the improvement in tensile and fatigue properties could be attributed to the reduction in the effective slip length, increase in the interface density, and realignment of the (0002) planes with the tensile axis.