Porosity, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Parts Fabricated by Powder Compact Forging

Ti-6Al-4V alloy powders produced using a hydrogenation-dehydrogenation process and a gas atomization process, respectively, were rapidly consolidated into near-net-shaped parts by powder compact forging. The porosity, microstructure, and tensile mechanical properties of specimens cut from regions at different distances from the side surfaces of the forged parts were examined. The regions near the side surfaces contained a fraction of pores due to the circumferential tensile strain arising during the powder compact forging process, and the porosity level decreased rapidly to zero with increasing the distance from the side surface. The forged parts had a fully lamellar structure with the alpha + beta colony sizes and alpha lamella thickness changing little with the distance from the side surface. The specimens cut from the regions near the side surfaces had a lower yield strength and tensile strength. The correlation of porosity with the yield strength of the specimens suggested that the reduction of load bearing areas due to the porosity and unbonded or weakly bonded interparticle boundaries was not the only reason for the lower strength, and the stress concentration at the pores and associated with their geometry also played an important role in this. It is likely that the effect of stress concentration on yield strength reduction of the forged part increases with oxygen content. The Hall-Petch relationship of the yield strength and the average alpha lamella thickness suggested that the strength of the fully dense and fully consolidated forged parts was increased by oxygen solution strengthening.