Strain induced additional growth and high integrity of TiB-whiskers in titanium matrix composite: intrinsic mechanisms and superior strengthening effects

While coarsening and agglomeration of TiB-whiskers in titanium matrix composite during the hot-forming processing are generally considered inevitable and consequently deleterious to the mechanical properties, this paper demonstrates that multi-pass hot-deformation with large total strain can actually enhance the aspect-ratio of TiB-whiskers while preserving small-diameter and high-integrity. The rearrangement of residual nano-TiB2, segregating of dense-whiskers and minimizing defects of TiB-whiskers during deformation contributed to additional growth of the whiskers in an optimal manner and elimination of clusters-structure, resulting in a high yield-strength of 1350 MPa while keeping a satisfied elongation-to-failure of 5.5%.