Microstructural changes due to friction stir processing of investment-cast Ti-6Al-4V

Friction stir processing (FSP) was used to modify the coarse fully lamellar microstructure on the surface of investment-cast and hot isostatically pressed (HIP) Ti-6Al-4V plate. The a colony and platelet structure in the base material (BM) was refined such that the effective slip length was reduced from the a colony size of the BM, several hundred microns, to that of fine equiaxed primary a grains that are on the order of 1 mu m. This change in the microstructure resulting from FSP is expected to increase fatigue crack initiation resistance making it beneficial for titanium components for aerospace applications. The as-cast coarse lamellar microstructure has superior fatigue crack growth resistance compared to other microstructures that can be obtained by thermomechanical processing. Thus, it is likely that an increase in fatigue life is obtainable by FSP. Given the growing interest in friction stir welding (FSW) and FSP of titanium alloys, we believe some consistent microstructural descriptors will help avoid confusion. Accordingly, we propose terminology to standardize the descriptions of the rnicrostructures created during FSP and FSW of titanium alloys. We also describe the microstructure changes that occur in the stir zone (SZ), transition zone (TZ), and heat-affected zone (HAZ) during FSP of Ti-6Al-4V.